A man waves Sri Lanka's national flag after climbing a tower near presidential secretariat in Colombo on July 11, 2022, after it was overrun by anti-government protestors.
(Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, grabbed a commanding early lead on Sunday in his bid to become the next president of the debt-ridden country seeking to elect a leader to bolster its fragile economic recovery.
Dissanayake won about 53% of a million votes counted so far in the election, Sri Lanka's Election Commission data showed.
"Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremasinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake."
This was Sri Lanka's first election since the economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving the country unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas.
Persons:
ARUN SANKAR, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Dissanayake, Sajith Premadasa, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Peremuna, Ali Sabry, Ranil Wickremasinghe, Kumara Dissanayake, Lanka's, Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Organizations:
Getty Images, Marxist, Sri, National, Power, JVP, International Monetary Fund, IMF
Locations:
Colombo, Sri Lanka's, Saturday's, Sri Lanka