Anura Kumara Dissanayaka set to become Sri Lanka’s next president

A previously fringe Marxist politician was on course Sunday to become Sri Lanka’s next leader after a presidential vote coloured by discontent over the island nation’s response to an unprecedented financial crisis.

The ongoing count in Saturday’s poll showed Anura Kumara Dissanayaka on 52 per cent with just over a million votes counted, well above his nearest rivals.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was in second, with 23.3 per cent of the vote.

Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe – who took office at the peak of the 2022 economic collapse and imposed tough austerity policies per the terms of an IMF bailout – was trailing at a distant third with around 16 per cent of the vote.

Wickremesinghe has yet to concede, and an official result was not expected until later Sunday, but foreign minister Ali Sabry said the early count made it clear that Dissanayaka had won.