Marxist leads Sri Lankan presidential race as Ranil Wickremesinghe is ousted

Anura Kumara Dissanayake ran on pro-working class and anti-elite campaign

Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake was leading the race to become the next Sri Lankan president, riding a wave of pro-working class and anti-elite sentiment to leave more established politicians trailing.

In a three-way contest with incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, Mr Dissanayake took the most votes in the first round of counting but fell short of clearing the threshold of 50 per cent to win outright. The election commission ordered a second round of preferential vote counting and Mr Dissanayake quickly raced into a lead, taking 39.5 per cent of the votes counted by Sunday afternoon as against Mr Premadasa’s 34 per cent.

Mr Wickremesinghe, who took power in July 2022 via a parliamentary vote to cover the remainder of ousted leader Mahinda Rajapaksa’s five-year term, was eliminated in the first round. The outgoing president, who led Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery from the debilitating crisis of 2022, received just 17 per cent of the votes.

Mr Dissanayake, 55, who injected civil pragmatism into his election campaign and earned wide support, leads the National People’s Power, a leftwing coalition of civil society groups, professionals, students and Buddhist clergy.

Sri Lankans wait in a queue to cast their ballots in Galle on 21 September 2024 (AFP via Getty)

This is the first time in Sri Lanka’s history that the presidential election is being decided by a second round of counting. The second round is required if no candidate secures an outright majority.

The top two candidates then split the ballots of the eliminated nominees depending on which of them is listed as the second preference. The second preference ballots are added to the tallies from the first counting round and whoever receives the highest number of votes is declared as the winner.

Mr Disanayake received a congratulatory message from outgoing foreign minister Ali Sabry, who said that he respected the mandate given by Sri Lankans to him.

“I extend my sincere congratulations to Mr Dissanayake and his team. Leading a country is no easy task, and I genuinely hope that their leadership brings Sri Lanka the peace, prosperity and stability it so deeply deserves,” he said on X, adding that Sri Lankans faced “immense” challenges.

Mr Premadasa had not yet conceded defeat by Sunday afternoon.

Around 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots on Saturday and the final results were expected on Sunday evening.

Police said no major incidents were reported during the voting process, which was held under a countrywide curfew that ended midday on Sunday.

Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa at an election rally in Colombo (AP)

More than two years after the South Asian island nation fell into a deep economic crisis, millions of its people continue to struggle with high living costs. Not surprising, the economy was the biggest campaign issue.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, years in the making, stemmed largely from the federal administration’s excessive borrowing for projects without generating enough revenue. A further blow was delivered by the Covid pandemic and the government’s push for using scarce foreign reserves to prop up the Sri Lankan rupee, throwing the economy into a tailspin.

At the time of its default, the country faced a foreign and local debt of $83bn. Several rounds of restructuring brought it down to about $17bn.

This past week, officials in Colombo said the government had cleared the final hurdle in debt restructuring by reaching an agreement with private bond holders.

Mr Dissanayake and his rival said during the campaign that they would renegotiate a proposed deal with the International Monetary Fund to make austerity measures more bearable for the country’s millions.

Mr Wickremesinghe warned that any move to alter the basic agreement could delay the release of the fourth trance of nearly $3bn needed for economic stability.