Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a leftist politician, has taken a commanding lead in Sri Lanka's presidential election. The election on Saturday is the first to be held since mass protests unseated the country's leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in 2022 after the country suffered its worst economic crisis.

Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, grabbed a commanding early lead on Sunday in his bid to become the next president of the debt-ridden country seeking to elect a leader to bolster its fragile economic recovery.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake leads early official results in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, according to tallies released on Sunday by the Election Commission, but he is still short of the 50% needed for victory.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s strong showing reveals voter weariness with leadership that has led to a national economic crisis and crushing hardship for many people.

By Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly COLOMBO (Reuters) -Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake was leading Sri Lanka's presidential election with half the votes counted on Sunday, seeming to knock out the incumbent for the chance to lead the heavily indebted nation's fragile economic recovery.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, 75, a six-time former prime minister, is a political survivor. His elevation to the presidency in 2022, after the overthrow of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, plucked him out of irrelevance and demonstrated his formidable bargaining powers.

Voting ends in Sri Lanka's presidential election as it seeks to recover from economic crisis and political upheaval