There are a total of 38 candidates in the running for the President's post, but President Wickremesinghe faces an uphill battle from Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Namal Rajapaksa and Nuwan Bopage. The cash-strapped country is gearing up for a presidential election on Saturday.

The cost of living is at the front of many voters' minds in what is expected to be a close race.

Elections will take place for the first time in Sri Lanka since the mass protests that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country.

Sri Lanka began voting for its next president in an effective referendum on an unpopular International Monetary Fund austerity plan enacted after the island nation's unprecedented financial crisis.

Sri Lanka is going to what many consider a tightly-contested presidential election on Saturday that will determine the future of the fragile economy which was reeling under its worst-ever economic crisis.

Sri Lanka's presidential election features three main candidates in a close race, marking a shift from traditional two-party dominance.