By Deutsche Welle (Asia) | Created at 2024-09-22 13:55:50 | Updated at 2024-09-30 05:17:29
1 week ago
Sri Lanka authorities conducted a second round of counting for the first time in its history after top candidates failed to secure a majority in the presidential race.
Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa came out on top in the first round but neither won the mandatory 50% of votes necessary to be declared winner.
How the voting panned out
Dissanayake appeared to have secured a seemingly unassailable lead with 42% of the vote compared with 33% for Premadasa.
However, Sri Lanka has a preferential voting system, and there will now be a count of second choices marked on ballots before a winner is formally declared.
Sri Lanka election: Left-wing lawmaker leads in ballot count
All remaining candidates, including incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, have been eliminated, the Election Commission told reporters Wickremesinghe, who took office at the height of Sri Lanka's 2022 economic collapse and imposed tough austerity policies, came a distant third with just 17%.
What happens now?
Wickremesinghe has yet to concede. However, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said it appeared clear that Dissanayake had won.
"Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayaka," Sabry said on social media.
Meanwhile, Vijitha Herath, a delegate from Dissanayake's party, said they were confident of victory but urged supporters to stay patient as the count went on.
"The Election Commission must complete the process of counting preference votes and that is what is delaying the final result," he said in a video message posted on social media.
Economic issues have been at the fore during an eight-week campaign. There has been widespread public anger over the hardships imposed since the crisis peaked two years ago.
Dissanayake has promised not to "tear up" the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal that stipulated austerity as a precondition of economic help. However, he has said he intends to modify the terms under a provision to renegotiate.
Major gains since 2020 amid economic woes
Dissanayaka's once-marginal party led two failed Marxist uprisings in the 1970s and 1980s in which some 80,000 people were killed.
In 2020's elections, it had won less than 4% support, but the economic downturn of the last four years proved an opportunity for it to make rapid gains.
Dissanayaka has blamed the country's default on its debts in large part on a "corrupt" political culture in Sri Lanka, although geopolitical economic factors certainly also played a role.
"Our country needs a new political culture," he said after casting his ballot on Saturday.
rc, msh/rm (Reuters, AP)
