Scarred by a decades-long civil war and struggling to survive in Sri Lanka's crippled economy, ethnic minority Tamils in the island nation say they have little hope that Saturday's presidential election will improve their lot by much.

Traditionally, Tamils have voted for Tamil parties which are active in northern Sri Lanka, but Thanabalasingam says their vote is now split among many factions which claim to represent the minority's concerns.

Sri Lankans will vote on Saturday for their next president, who will be key to deciding the future of reforms in a nation slowly emerging from worst financial crisis in decades. A critical shortfall in foreign exchange in 2022 pushed Sri Lanka's economy into the worst financial freefall in decades.

Sri Lankans who usually vote along religious and ethnic lines will be keeping another factor in mind when they vote Saturday on a new president

Sri Lankans go to the polls this weekend for the country’s first election since defaulting on piles of sovereign debt in 2022, when the nation plunged into its worst economic crisis across 70 years of independence.

Sri Lanka's president Ranil Wickremesinghe gestures as he arrives at his final election campaign rally for the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for September 21, in Colombo, Sri Lanka September 18,

The economy, which collapsed in 2022 after a severe shortage of dollars, is one of the key issues for voters, who have struggled with inflation that soared to as much as 70%, a battered currency and power tariffs that jumped 65%.