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REUTERS/Stringer Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the presidential candidate from National People’s Power, speaks to the press after casting his vote at a polling station, on the day of the presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 21, 2024.
Reuters
16:41 JST, September 22, 2024
COLOMBO (Reuters) – 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 54% of half a million votes counted so far in the election, Sri Lanka’s Election Commission data showed. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was second with 20%, a few thousand votes ahead of President Ranil Wickremesinghe in third place.
About 75% of the eligible 17 million people in the Indian Ocean island nation cast their votes in Saturday’s election, according to the poll body.
