Sri Lanka: Left coalition leader Dissanayaka set to assume presidency
COLOMBO – Leader of the left coalition, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, is on track to win the presidential elections in Sri Lanka. According to partial results from over a million votes counted, he is set to receive 52% of the votes.
He is thereby significantly ahead of the incumbent president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, and the opposition leader in Parliament, Sajith Premadasa (centre-right), 57, whose team has already conceded defeat. Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe had not responded on Sunday morning to the initial results announced by the electoral commission, but he extended the curfew imposed on the election night until noon (06:30 GMT).
One of his main allies, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, has already acknowledged Dissanayaka’s victory.
“Although I strongly campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Sri Lankan people have made their decision, and I fully respect the term they have given to Anura Kumara Dissanayaka,” he wrote on X.
Additionally, other candidates have also recognised the left candidate’s victory.
According to the electoral commission, the elections saw a strong turnout of around 76% of voters fatigued by the harsh austerity measures as a result of the unprecedented financial crisis of 2022.
