Written by Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake led Sri Lanka’s presidential election with half the votes counted on Sunday, appearing to have ousted the incumbent in a bid to steer the debt-ridden nation’s fragile economic recovery.
Sri Lanka’s Election Commission said Dissanayake won 40 percent of the 6 million votes cast, ahead of opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, who got 33 percent, while President Ranil Wickremesinghe trailed with 17 percent of the vote taken on Saturday.
Final results are expected later on Sunday. If no candidate gets 50% of the vote, a second round of counting will be held to determine the winner between the two candidates with the highest votes, using preferential votes.
This is the first election in Sri Lanka since the Indian Ocean nation’s economy collapsed in 2022 due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.
“The election result clearly shows that the uprising we witnessed in 2022 is not over yet,” said Pradeep Peiris, a political science professor at the University of Colombo.
“People voted in line with those aspirations for a different political practice and political institutions. The AKP,” as Dissanayake is known, “reflects those aspirations and people have rallied around it.”
Dissanayake, 55, has presented himself as a candidate of change for those suffering from austerity measures linked to a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout, and has promised to dissolve parliament within 45 days of taking office to secure a fresh mandate for his policies in a general election.
He had alarmed investors with his election manifesto, which pledged to cut taxes in the island nation, which could affect IMF fiscal targets, and to review its $25 billion debt. But during the campaign, he took a more conciliatory approach, saying any changes would be made in consultation with the IMF and that he was committed to ensuring the debt was repaid.
Premadasa also pledged to renegotiate the outlines of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
Extreme poverty for millions of people
Thanks to the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka’s economy has recorded a temporary recovery and is expected to grow this year for the first time in three years, and inflation has collapsed to 0.5% from a crisis peak of 70%.
But the continued high cost of living has been a crucial issue for many voters, and millions of people remain mired in poverty, with many pinning their hopes for a better future on the next leader.
Voting was peaceful, although police declared a curfew across the island nation until noon (0630 GMT) as a precaution while vote counting continued.
The commission said about 75 percent of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots.
Dissanayake, known for his inflammatory speeches, was running for the National People’s Power Alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning Janata Vimukthi Perimuna party, which has traditionally supported stronger state intervention, lower taxes and more closed market economic policies.
Although the SLFP has only three seats in parliament, Dissanayake has gained a morale boost with promises of tougher anti-corruption measures and more pro-poor policies. He has drawn huge crowds to rallies, urging Sri Lankans to leave the suffering of the crisis behind them.
Premadasa, 57, entered politics after his father, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, was killed in a suicide bombing in 1993. The younger Premadasa won 42% of the vote in 2019 to come second, behind Rajapaksa, in the last presidential election.
Premadasa’s centre-left party has promised tax changes to lower the cost of living, and support from farming communities in northern and central Sri Lanka has helped him close the gap with Dissanayake as the vote count progresses.
The winner will have to ensure Sri Lanka sticks to an IMF programme through 2027 to put its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, pay down debt, attract investors and help a quarter of its people lift themselves out of poverty.