evidence: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka will hold its presidential election on Sept. 21 in a crucial vote that will decide the future of the South Asian nation still struggling to recover from its economic collapse in 2022, which provoked mass protests and forced the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and later resign. [...] Namal Rajapaksa, the heir apparent to the once-powerful Rajapaksa clan, is also contesting. Namal’s candidacy will test whether his powerful clan — which has produced two presidents — can retain its hold on the country after many of its members were pushed into the political wilderness. His father, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is credited with crushing the Tamil armed separatist movement in 2009. [...] Sri Lanka has a powerful executive presidential system with the President being the head of state, government, cabinet and the armed forces. The prime minister has some powers like recommending Cabinet ministers.