Dissanayake leads vote count in Sri Lanka’s presidential election
The Marxist has campaigned on a pro-working class and anti-elite platform, which has proven popular with young people.
Marxist legislator Anura Kumara Dissanayake is leading Sri Lanka’s presidential election after knocking out the incumbent liberal President Ranil Wickremesinghe from the race, as officials began a second round of vote counting for the first time in the nation’s history.
Mr Dissanayake, whose pro-working class and anti-political elite campaigning made him popular among young people, leads with 39% of the votes counted, followed by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa with 34%, according to tallies released by the Election Commission.
The election held on Saturday is crucial as the country seeks to recover from the worst economic crisis in its history and the resulting political upheaval.
Contested by 38 candidates, it was largely a three-way race between Mr Dissanayake, Mr Wickremesinghe and Mr Premadasa.
Neither candidate has received more than 50% of the vote.
The Sri Lankan election system allows voters to select three candidates on their ballots in the order of preference. If no candidate secures a majority, the top two will be retained and the ballots of the eliminated candidates will be checked for preferences given to either of the top two candidates, and those votes will be added to their respective tallies.
The candidate with the highest number of votes after that will be declared the winner.
It was a strong showing for Mr Dissanayake, who won just over 3% of votes in a previous presidential election in 2019, and suggests voters are tired with the old political guard, which has been accused of pushing Sri Lanka towards economic instability.
Mr Wickremesinghe’s foreign minister Ali Sabry congratulated Mr Dissanayake on the social platform X and said he hopes he will “lead with a commitment to transparency, integrity, and the long-term good of the country”.
“I wish Mr Dissanayake and his team every success in their efforts to lead Sri Lanka forward,” Mr Sabry added.
Mr Premadasa has not conceded defeat.
The election was a virtual referendum on Mr Wickremesinghe’s leadership of a fragile recovery, including restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt under an International Monetary Fund bailout after it defaulted in 2022.
Mr Dissanayake, 55, leads the left-leaning coalition National People’s Power, an umbrella of civil society groups, professionals, Buddhist clergy and students.
No major incidents were reported during the vote but authorities declared a countrywide curfew until midday on Sunday as a precaution, police said.
There were 17 million eligible voters and final results are expected on Sunday evening.
