Sri Lanka Marxist candidate takes early lead in presidential vote

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka’s Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayaka took an early lead in the Sept 21 presidential election during the counting of postal ballots, official results showed.

Mr Dissanayaka had 60.21 per cent of the 164,000 votes counted, out of just over 700,000. Public servants involved in conducting the election are entitled to post their ballots, which are the first to be counted.

About 76 per cent of the 17.1 million person electorate turned out for the Sept 21 vote, and final results are expected later on Sept 22.

The election has turned into a referendum on incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s austerity measures, implemented in line with a US$2.9 billion (S$3.7 billion) bailout loan he secured from the IMF early in 2023.

Mr Dissanayaka, 55, had vowed to renegotiate

the unpopular IMF agreement

under which Mr Wickremesinghe had doubled income taxes, removed energy subsidies and raised prices.

The initial results showed opposition leader Sajith Premadasa had 19.98, almost neck-and-neck with Mr Wickremesinghe who had 18.59 per cent.

If elected, Mr Dissanayaka would be Sri Lanka’s first Marxist head of state

The authorities declared

an eight-hour evening curfew across the country

while results were being announced via manual counts, as Sri Lanka does not have electronic voting.

Mr Wickremesinghe is seeking a fresh term to press ahead with his austerity measures after claiming credit for stabilising the economy after a crushing default on the national debt in 2022. AFP