Sri Lanka set to elect Marxist leader as president

A once marginal Marxist politician was on track Sunday to become Sri Lanka’s next president following a vote heavily influenced by dissatisfaction with the country’s handling of an unprecedented financial crisis.

Early results from Saturday’s election showed Anura Kumara Dissanayaka leading with 52 percent of the vote, surpassing his closest competitors by a significant margin.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was in second place with 23.3 percent.

Current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office during the 2022 economic meltdown and enforced strict austerity measures under an IMF bailout, was lagging in third with about 16 percent.

Wickremesinghe has yet to concede, and the final result isn’t expected until later Sunday. However, foreign minister Ali Sabry noted that the early count clearly indicated Dissanayaka’s victory.

“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.

Around 76 percent of Sri Lanka’s 17.1 million eligible voters cast ballots in Saturday’s poll.

Dissanayaka’s once-marginal Marxist party led two failed uprisings in the 1970s and 1980s that left more than 80,000 people dead.

It won less than four percent of the vote during the most recent parliamentary elections in 2020.

But Sri Lanka’s crisis has proven an opportunity for Dissanayaka, 55, who has seen a surge of support based on his pledge to change the island’s “corrupt” political culture.

“Our country needs a new political culture,” he said after casting his ballot on Saturday.