Sri Lanka elects Marxist-leaning Dissanayake as president to fix economy
Al Jazeera
Anura Kumara Dissanayake picked to fight corruption and bolster fragile economy after worst financial crisis in decades.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been declared the winner of the presidential election, according to the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.
The Marxist-leaning Dissanayake, 55, leader of the People’s Liberation Front alliance, won the presidency with 42.31 percent of the vote in Saturday’s election, the commission said on Sunday.
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76 percent of the vote.
Outgoing 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 – took a distant third place with 17.27 percent of the votes polled.
Wickremesinghe has yet to concede, but Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said it was clear that Dissanayaka had won.
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