Race between 2 candidates in Sri Lanka’s elections

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka

Voting begun across Sri Lanka at 7 a.m. (0130GMT) Saturday, with nearly 16 million voters expected to cast ballots to elect a new president.

The contest has seen an unprecedented 35 candidates, the highest number in the history of a presidential election.

But despite the large number of contenders, the race is between two candidates: 70-year-old nationalist politician, Gotabaya Rajapaksa from Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and 52-year-old ruling party candidate Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party (UNP).

The election comes just months since the Easter Day attacks that killed at least 259 people, and is