Sri Lanka president did not scrap re-election bid days before poll

"Grandpa left," read a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared on September 14, 2024 in an apparent reference to the 75-year-old Wickremesinghe.

It showed the Sri Lankan president's photo alongside text that read in part: "Many meetings are cancelled. No money to pay for the TV commercials. Campaign has been stopped. Ranil falls to the third place."

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on September 18, 2024

Similar claims were also shared on Facebook here and here.

The posts surfaced in the final days before Sri Lanka's presidential election on September 21 -- the first poll since the Indian Ocean country suffered its worst financial meltdown in 2022, when it ran out of dollars to import essentials (archived link).

The crisis sparked street protests that toppled strongman Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced into temporary exile after a mob stormed his compound.

Wickremesinghe -- who replaced Rajapaksa as interim leader -- has urged voters to give him a fresh mandate to continue with austerity measures he says stabilised the economy and ended months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

He faces two formidable challengers including Marxist party leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka who has seen a surge of support based on his pledge to change the island's "corrupt" political culture.

Fellow opposition leader Sajith Premadasa is also favoured to make a strong showing. A former ally and deputy of Wickremesinghe, Premadasa vowed to ensure transparency in state procurements and fight endemic corruption.

Final rallies

Contrary to the Facebook posts, Wickremesinghe held rallies until the closing day of campaigning on September 18.

Footage livestreamed on his Facebook page that day showed him speaking at events outside the capital Colombo, including in the city of Kalutara and the town of Minuwangoda (archived here and here).

Campaign adverts for Wickremesinghe also appeared on the front pages of major newspapers on the same day, including Daily Lankadeepa and the Daily Mirror (archived here and here).

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Campaign adverts for Ranil Wickremesinghe published by Lankadeepa and the Daily Mirror newspapers on September 18, 2024

Wickremesinghe's campaign ads also featured in newspapers on previous days, including the Sunday Times and Sunday Lankadeepa on September 15 and the Daily Mirror on September 16 (archived here, here and here).

A spokesman for Wickremesinghe's party dismissed the Facebook posts as "fake news".

"A new TV advertisement was launched on Monday and since Sunday, full front page ads have been taken on all Sinhala, English and Tamil newspapers," Dinouk Colombage, a working committee member of the United National Party, told AFP.