Colombo: 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 per cent 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 per cent, a few thousand votes ahead of President Ranil Wickremesinghe in third place.
About 75 per cent of the eligible 17 million people in the Indian Ocean island nation cast their votes in Saturday's election, according to the poll body. Voting closed at 4 pm (1030 GMT) and counting started afterward, with results expected to be announced by the Election Commission on Sunday. Postal votes were to be counted first, senior commission official Saman Sri Ratnayake, told Reuters.
The country's election system allows voters to cast three preferential votes for their chosen candidates. If no candidate wins 50 per cent in the first count, a second round of counting determines the winner between the two top candidates, using the preferential votes. Analysts say this will likely be the case given the close nature of the election.
Saturday's voting was peaceful across the South Asian island nation and queues outside booths lengthened as the day progressed, local TV channels showed. More than 13,000 polling stations were set up and 250,000 public officials were deployed to manage the election, the election body said. More than 17 million of Sri Lanka's 22 million people were eligible to vote in the election, contested by some 38 candidates.
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. Thousands of protesters marched in Colombo in 2022 and occupied the president's office and residence, forcing then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.
Buttressed by a $2.9 billion bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund, the economy has posted a tentative recovery but the high cost of living is still a critical issue for many voters.
Although inflation cooled to 0.5 per cent last month from a crisis high of 70 per cent, and the economy is forecast to grow in 2024 for the first time in three years, millions remain mired in poverty and debt, with many pinning hopes of a better future on their next leader.
The winner will have to ensure Sri Lanka sticks with the IMF programme until 2027 to get its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, attract investors and help a quarter of its people climb out of poverty.