Sri Lanka defaulted on $50 billion in external debt in 2022, pushing the populace towards an alternative candidate.

President Dissanayake now has the mandate he needs to tackle corruption and recover stolen assets after financial crash.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s coalition took an early lead in parliamentary elections seen as a test of the leftist leader’s ambitious pledges to combat corruption and change the terms of an unpopular International Monetary Fund bailout.

Sri Lanka began counting votes cast on Thursday in a snap general election that will decide if the Indian Ocean island nation will give its new leftist president greater legislative power to help the poor as it recovers from a financial meltdown.

The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has taken a large lead in early results from the parliamentary elections, in an apparent solid mandate for his program f

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s coalition won a parliamentary supermajority in the country’s election, underscoring the depth of the support for the leftist leader who pledges to combat corruption and change the terms of an unpopular International Monetary Fund bailout.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's coalition, the National People's Power (NPP), was set for victory in a snap general election, results from the Indian Ocean island's poll body showed on Friday.

By Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's leftist coalition won a thumping victory in a snap general election, gaining power to push through his plans to fight poverty and graft in the island nation recovering from a financial meltdown.