jilihot Marxist leader declared Sri Lanka's president-elect

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's election commission declared a previously fringe Marxist politician the country's president-elect on Sunday (Sep 22) after a vote coloured by discontent over the island nation's response to an unprecedented financial crisis.

Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, the 55-year-old leader of the People's Liberation Front, won the presidency with 42.31 per cent of the vote in Saturday's election, the commission said.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76 per cent.

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 with 17.27 per cent.

Wickremesinghe has yet to concede, but Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said it was clear that Dissanayaka had won.

"Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayaka," Sabry said on social media.

Dissanayaka will be sworn in on Monday morning at the colonial-era President Secretariat in Colombojilihot, election commission officials said.

Members of National People's Power (NPP) party, watch presidential election results on a projected screen featuring NPP's presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayaka on Sep 22, 2024. (File photo: AFP/Ishara S Kodikara)

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