Protests ousted Sri Lanka's last president. Ahead of new election, many are still waiting for change

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Two years ago, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans rose up against their president and forced him to flee the country. As the country prepares for its first election since then, many say they’re still waiting for change.

As Sri Lanka sank into economic collapse in 2022, people from various walks of life rallied to change a long-entrenched government they saw as responsible. The unprecedented island-wide public uprising they led was a moment of hope for the country long been fatigued by war and economic instability.

Days ahead of Saturday’s presidential election, many still complain of corrupt leaders, economic mismanagement, and the entrenched power of the political old guard, but former protesters are having a hard time coming together behind a candidate.

They agree on one thing: Sri Lanka needs a new political system that can take it out of economic and political turbulence.

Days after Rajapaksa fled the country, Sri Lanka’s parliament replaced him with then-prime minister Ranil Wickremensignhe in a vote that many protesters saw as a victory for the status quo.

Many Sri Lankans say the current government is largely made up of the same politicians who have ruled the island nation for decades through a devastating civil war that ended in 2009 to the economic crisis that began during the coronavirus pandemic.

Even though he was later jailed for seven days on charges of violence that saw Sri Lankan dissidents ransacking the presidential palace, 42-year-old physician Pathum Kerner said the protests achieved one goal: bringing in a new leader who could address the country’s economic woes.

The worst of the economic crisis is over, he says, but there’s still a long road ahead. “We wanted to create a new party, a new political culture, and emerging leaders, but we could not do that,” said Kerner, who joined the protests in their first days and helped to start the “Go Home, Gota” slogan that became a rallying cry for Rajapaksa’s foes.

Wickremensignhe has made progress steadying Sri Lanka’s economy, but discontent remains strong as he’s introduced economic policies that have raised the cost of living, like tax cuts and a debt restructuring program.

Meanwhile, many of the protest movement’s political demands remain unmet, from accountability from his predecessors for the economic crisis, to curtailment of president’s powers and a democratic replacement.

Ajantha Perera, an academic and scientist who was part of the protests, said she hoped at first that Wickremeisnghe would work with the protesters to find solutions to the crisis.

Instead, she said, the new president went after civil society leaders who were instrumental in the citizens’ movement, delayed local elections citing lack of funds, and protected the powerful Rajapaksa clan that had ruled Sri Lanka for more than 12 years.

“All of a sudden he turned into something totally different. He was trying to please the Rajapaksas who left,” Perera said.

Like many former protesters, she wants Sri Lanka to strip its presidency of most of its powers, moving them to a more powerful parliament and prime minister.

“Executive presidency is a white elephant for Sri Lanka,” she said, saying that any new president could use it to tighten their grip over the country. “We can’t afford it. We don’t need it.”

The former protesters are finding that they don’t always agree the course their country should take, spurring divisions between one-time allies.

Wickremensignhe’s main challengers — opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and parliamentarian Anura Dissanayake, a surprise top contender who heads a new leftist coalition — have promised major political changes, including renegotiating a deal with the International Monetary Fund to win more favorable terms.

Dissanayake has even promised to nationalize the country’s resources to spur growth.

Those promises worry Kerner, who says he’s eager to hold the government to its promises but doesn’t trust leftists with the economy.

“Bringing in a leftist to this crisis,” Kerner said, “is like leaving laxatives to a patient who’s dying from dehydration.”

Human rights lawyer Swasthika Arulingam says that the emerging political splits among former protesters are a sign of healthier democracy.

Arulingam, who offered legal aid to protesters during the uprising, says Sri Lankans have become “politically conscious” after decades of voting on ethnic lines.

“This was the moment when the political status quo broke and people came out to the streets and demanded for systemic change. So definitely there’s a shift in politics in terms of the younger generation,” Arulingam said. “Political parties and candidates can no longer come and say whatever they want. People are asking questions now.”

The 37-year-old, a member of the minority Tamil community that bore the brunt of the civil war — is helping run a campaign for a candidate from the newly minted People’s Struggle Alliance. It’s another leftist political movement that is vying for a place in Sri Lanka’s political landscape.

On a recent afternoon in Homagama, a town which is about 24 kilometers (15 miles) south-east of Colombo, Arulingam spoke in front a small crowd of supporters and urged them to vote for change.

Arulingam admits her party won’t win this election, but she says it won’t hesitate to hit the streets again if the country’s politicians don’t meet demands for change.

“We are gearing up for a political fight, and we are preparing the ground,” she said.

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Associated Press writers Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report.

Presidential candidate and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawgaya or United People's Power party waves to supporters as he arrives for the final election rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Leader and the presidential candidate of National People's Power Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaks to supporters during the final public rally ahead of the election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lanka's president Ranil Wickremesinghe speaks during a public rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Ajantha Perera, an academic and scientist who was part of the protests, poses for a photo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Ajantha Perera, an academic and scientist who was part of the protests talks to the Associated Press in in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

People walk past a graffiti near the 2022 protest site that reads "Go Home Gota," a slogan under which Sri Lankans where mobilized during the public uprising that led to the ousting of the then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Swasthika Arulingam, right, 37, a human rights lawyer and a minority Tamil, who offered legal aid to protesters during the uprising, talks to Nuwan Bopage, a presidential candidate from People's Struggle Alliance during an election campaign in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Swasthika Arulingam, 37, a human rights lawyer and a minority Tamil, who offered legal aid to protesters during the uprising, poses for a photo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

FILE - Police fire tear gas as protesters stormed the compound of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe demanding he resign after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid an economic crisis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

FILE - People wait in a queue with empty cylinders to buy domestic gas at a distribution center, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE - Protesters shouts slogans demanding acting president and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resign in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE - Sri Lanka army soldiers patrol near the official residence of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE - A protester holds a portrait of former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa upside down after storming the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Pathum Kerner, a 42-year-old physician who was among the first Sri Lankans to join the public uprising that ended President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's regime and a key figure in starting the "Go home, Gota" walks at a 2022 protest side, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Pathum Kerner, a 42-year-old physician who was among the first Sri Lankans to join the public uprising that ended President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's regime and a key figure in starting the "Go home, Gota", talks to Associated Press at the 2022 protest site, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Pathum Kerner, a 42-year-old physician who was among the first Sri Lankans to join the public uprising that ended President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's regime and a key figure in starting the "Go home, Gota" poses for a photograph in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the union stronghold of Flint, Michigan, on Friday as she battles with Donald Trump for working-class voters who could tip the scales in this year’s election.

Her appearance in the battleground state comes the day after U.S. dockworkers suspended their strike in hopes of reaching a new contract, sparing the country a damaging episode of labor unrest that could have rattled the economy.

Meanwhile, Trump is heading to Georgia to appear with Gov. Brian Kemp, the latest sign that he’s patched up his rocky relationship with the top Republican in a key battleground state.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

President Joe Biden said Friday that he was confident the upcoming election would be free and fair - but he’s not sure it will be peaceful.

Biden made a surprise appearance in the White House press briefing room to discuss the strong jobs report that he called “incredible news,” and he took some questions. He was asked about how he was feeling about the upcoming election.

“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” he said. “The things that Trump has said - and the the things that he said last time, when he didn’t like the outcome of the election -- were very dangerous.”

Trump still falsely claims the 2020 election was stolen.

Biden was also asked, as he left the room, whether he was going to reconsider running for president.

“I’m back in” he joked, and the reporters all laughed.

Election experts during a virtual panel held by the National Task Force on Election Crises on Friday acknowledged that western North Carolina officials are still in the early phases of assessing how hurricane damage will affect voting.

The process has been delayed with bridges and roads compromised and emergency crews still actively working to rescue stranded residents and provide people with basic supplies, said Robert Orr, a retired North Carolina Supreme Court Justice who co-leads the North Carolina Network for Fair, Safe and Secure Elections.

Paying for last-minute election changes could pose a challenge, Orr said. Most North Carolina election funding happens locally, and most county election budgets are already diminished because they had to reprint ballots to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name, he said.

Most North Carolina residents are still focused on basic survival and recovery over voting, said Anne Tindall, special counsel of the nonprofit Protect Democracy.

Four people intentionally voted twice in Michigan’s summer primary election, the state attorney general said Friday as she announced felony charges against the suburban Detroit residents as well as public employees accused of enabling it to happen.

Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against the St. Clair Shores residents as well as three assistant clerks who are accused of enabling it to happen. Nessel called it “shocking and simply unheard of.” Nessel said four people who had already cast absentee ballots for the Aug. 6 primary showed up to vote in St. Clair Shores on the day of the election.

It’s possible to cancel an absentee ballot but not on Election Day.

The extra votes did not affect race results, she said.

Casey and Biden are allies and friends. Biden hasn’t done much campaigning since he left the 2024 race over the summer and Vice President Kamala Harris replaced him at the top of the ticket.

The president will also travel to Wisconsin where he’ll talk about efforts by his administration to replace lead pipes. That’s something Biden has continued to do — talk publicly about his administration’s successes and his record in office. He has told his team to “run through the tape.”

Elon Musk will join Donald Trump at his rally Saturday in Butler, the Pennsylvania city where the Republican presidential nominee survived an assassination attempt earlier this year.

“I will be there to support!” Musk wrote on his social platform X on Thursday in a retweet of Trump’s own promotion of the rally. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO will be among special guests in attendance, Trump’s campaign confirmed Friday.

The event will mark the first time the billionaire businessman appears publicly at a campaign event for the former president since endorsing him. Musk has supercharged his support for Trump in recent months and has become personally more invested in politics — even agreeing to lead a government efficiency commission if Trump wins reelection.

Saturday’s rally will take place at the same property where a gunman’s bullets grazed Trump’s right ear and killed his supporter, Corey Comperatore. The shooting left multiple others injured.

The Democratic presidential nominee has already been to Georgia, where she helped distribute meals and spoke with families in Augusta. More than 200 people died in the powerful storm that spread out across the Southeast, causing devastation. President Joe Biden, too, has traveled to areas hard-hit by the storm.

From Georgia, Harris said she and Biden have been paying attention “from the beginning to what we need to do to make sure the federal resources hit the ground as quickly as possible, and that includes what was necessary to make sure that we provided direct federal assistance. And that work has been happening.”

Their travel comes as Republican Donald Trump is falsely claiming the federal government wasn't doing enough to help affected people in Republican areas. Biden was angered by the suggestion, calling it a lie. He said partisan politics should not be part of this conversation.

Former President Barack Obama is planning to hit key swing states to boost Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for the White House, starting on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

The Harris campaign says Obama will travel around the country over the final 27 days ahead of the election. It noted that the former president and Harris have a friendship that goes back 20 years, from when they first met while he was running for Senate.

Harris was also an early supporter of Obama’s 2008 presidential bid and knocked on doors for him in Iowa ahead of its caucus that led off voting in the Democratic primary.

In his speech at the Democratic convention in August, Obama said Harris “wasn’t born into privilege. She had to work for what she’s got.”

“And she actually cares about what other people are going through,” the former president added then.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances at a campaign event at the Ryder Center at Saginaw Valley State University, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in University Center, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she arrives on Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Mich., Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)