- Dissanayake wins 42.3% of the votes counted.
- Opposition leader Premadasa got 32.8%.
- Outgoing Wickremesinghe wins 17% of the vote.
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Sunday elected Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its new president, banking on the 55-year-old's promise to fight corruption and boost a fragile economic recovery from its worst financial crisis in decades.
Dissanayake, who does not have a political pedigree like some of his rivals in the presidential election, led from start to finish in the vote count, ousting incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa to become Sri Lanka's 10th president.
Sri Lanka's president-elect on Sunday called on his countrymen to help him “rewrite” history in the cash-strapped island nation after winning a vote tainted by anger over an unprecedented financial crisis.
Dissanayake, the once marginal leader whose party won less than 4% of the vote in parliamentary elections four years ago, saw a surge in support as the economic crisis imposed widespread hardship on Sri Lankans.
“The dream we have nurtured for centuries is finally becoming a reality,” he said in a statement shortly after the announcement.
“This victory belongs to all of us,” he added. “Millions of eyes filled with hope and expectation are pushing us forward and together we are ready to rewrite Sri Lanka's history.”
Outgoing President Wickremesinghe, who took office at the height of the 2022 economic collapse and imposed harsh austerity policies under the terms of an IMF bailout, came a distant third in the race with 17% of the vote.
“History will judge my efforts, but I can say with confidence that I did my best to stabilize the country during one of its darkest periods,” he said in a statement.
He congratulated Dissanayaka on the victory and said he was “confident” that the politician “will lead Sri Lanka on a path of continued growth and stability.”
Dissanayaka will be sworn in on Monday morning at the colonial-era Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, election commission officials said.
Dissanayake secured 5.6 million votes, or 42.3% of the vote. Premadasa came in second with 32.8% after the first round of vote counting on Sunday.
It was the first time in Sri Lanka's history that the presidential race was decided in a second round of recount after the two leading candidates failed to secure the required 50% of votes to be declared winners.
