Sri Lanka's upcoming presidential election is being seen by many as an opportunity to vent their anger at established politicians who they blame for the country's economic crisis. While the economy of the South Asian island shows "signs of stabilisation", according to the World Bank, poverty rates rose for the fourth year in a row last year.
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00:30I can't go to work, I can't go to school, I can't go to school alone, I can't go to school alone.
00:35But at one point, they give us the money,
00:38but at another point, they want to take it.
00:41So we don't take it.
00:44We have to pay for it.
01:00So this is what this whole election is about.
01:10There's a significant number of voters who are trying to send a strong message
01:15to the established political parties
01:18that they are very disappointed the way this country has been governed since independence.
01:30The obvious coping mechanism that many families have turned to
01:53is to try to send one member of their family overseas.
01:57And as we have seen in 2022 and 2023 and the first half of 2024,
02:03there was a large number of people who went overseas for foreign employment.
02:09So many of these poverty-stricken families probably are supplementing their income
02:14through remittances sent by a member of their family who is working overseas.