Sri Lanka elected Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its new president on Sunday, putting faith in the 55-year-old's pledge to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the presidential candidate from National People's Power, shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote at a polling station, on the day of the presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 21, 2024. Reuters
Sri Lanka elected Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its new president on Sunday, putting faith in the 55-year-old's pledge to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades.
Dissanayake, who does not possess political lineage like some of his rivals in the presidential election, led from start to finish during the counting of ballots, knocking out incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa to become Sri Lanka's 10th president.
The election was also a referendum on Wickremesinghe, who led the heavily indebted nation's fragile economic recovery from a meltdown in 2022 but the austerity measures that were key to this recovery hindered his bid to return to office. He finished third with 17% of the vote.
Dissanayake polled 5.6 million or 42.3% of the votes, a massive boost to the 3% he managed in the last presidential election in 2019. Premadasa was second at 32.8% after the first round of counting of ballots on Sunday.
It was the first time in Sri Lanka's history that the presidential race was decided by a second round of counting after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50% of votes to be declared winner.
By Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly
Hundreds of thousands took part in anti-austerity protests across France on Thursday, unions said, urging President Emmanuel Macron and his new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to acknowledge their anger and scrap looming budget cuts.
The Bulgarian government led by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov survived a vote of no confidence on Thursday, BTA news agency reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off his historic second state visit to Britain on Wednesday amid unprecedented pomp, intense security, technology investments and protests as King Charles and other royals welcomed their nation's closest ally.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.