Marxist Dissanayake in lead to become Sri Lankan President: Early trends

COLOMBO: Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist JVP’s broader front National People’s Power (NPP), on Sunday consolidated his lead in the Sri Lanka's presidential election.

On Saturday, Sri Lankans voted to elect a new president for the first election since the economic meltdown in 2022.

The voter turnout in the presidential election was around 75 per cent. Lower than the 83 per cent polled in the previous presidential election held in November 2019.

In the cumulative vote count declared by 7 am on Sunday, 56-year-old Dissanayake amassed 727,000 votes or 52 per cent against his nearest rival 57-year-old Sajith Premadasa, the main opposition leader who received 333,000 votes at 23 per cent.

The incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, was trailing way behind with 235,000 votes at 16 per cent.Marxist Dissanayake

Dissanayake won 21 of the 22 postal district votes while bagging several results declared thus far from the 168 geographical parliamentary seats from different districts.

Wickremesinghe is yet to concede defeat but his Foreign Minister Ali Sabry on X congratulated Dissanayake for his win.

"After a long and arduous campaign, the results of the election are now clear. 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. In a democracy, it is crucial to honour the will of the people, and I do so without hesitation," Sabry wrote on X.

"I extend my sincere congratulations to Mr. Dissanayake and his team," he added.

Premadasa camp senior Harsha de Silva too congratulated Dissanayake.

NPP sources said they would be visiting the presidential secretariat on Sunday to discuss the formalities of the transition in the morning hours.

The swing Dissanayake garnered was of unbelievable proportions despite pre-poll expectations of his victory which was considered foregone, analysts said.

Dissanayake’s NPP had only garnered 3 per cent of the vote in the previous election - the 2020 August parliamentary election.

Sri Lanka's crisis has proven an opportunity for Dissanayake, who has seen a surge of support due to his pledge to change the island's "corrupt" political culture.

This time, the minority Tamil issue is not on the agenda. Instead, the nation's battered economy and its recovery have taken centre stage with all three front runners vowing to stick with the IMF bail-out reforms.

Dissanayake and Premadasa want to tinker with the IMF programme to give more economic relief to the public.

The polls were held on Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm local time at over 13,400 polling stations in 22 electoral districts in the election which had the highest number of candidates, 38, but no female aspirant for the top post.

Voters in Sri Lanka elect a single winner by ranking up to three candidates in order of preference. If a candidate receives an absolute majority, they will be declared the winner. If not, a second round of counting will commence, with second and third-choice votes then taken into account.