evidence: The president’s gamble to shun the sweeping governance reforms demanded by protesters in exchange for the stable parliamentary majority needed to pursue economic adjustment will now be put to the test at the polls. Running as an independent candidate backed by an ad hoc coalition, including much of Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, President Wickremesinghe is presenting himself as a "non-partisan" candidate committed to completing the economic recovery with IMF backing. Opinion polls indicate he is trailing his two main competitors, Sajith Premadasa, head of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the left-leaning National People’s Power coalition. Both have pledged to renegotiate the IMF agreement to reduce the strain on working people, but neither has detailed how he would do so. What looks to be the country’s first-ever three-way race could prove tight and tense. In another precedent, it may be decided by voters’ second and third preferences. [...] Opinion polls indicate widespread dissatisfaction with the economy and suggest that, despite recent gains, Wickremesinghe remains the underdog, running behind his two main rivals, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, who heads the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and its National People’s Power (NPP) alliance.[4] With the political landscape more fluid and unpredictable than ever, what looks to be the country’s first-ever three-way race could well be very close, particularly given the uncertainties surrounding preference votes.[5]