Sri Lanka will hold a presidential election on September 21, the country’s Election Commission announced on Friday. Sri Lanka, an island state of some 22 million people, last held elections in November 2019, when it elected Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president. Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country and resign in July 2022 after tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest, angered by the country’s economic collapse. Incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe was then elected through parliament to succeed Rajapaksa. In 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved some $3 billion to supp…