Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, according to data released by the Election Commission Sunday, as voters rejected the old political guard that has been widely accused of pushing the South Asian nation toward economic ruin.
Dissanayake, whose pro-working class and anti-political elite campaigning made him popular among youth, secured victory over opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and incumbent liberal President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over the country two years ago after its economy hit bottom.
Dissanayake received 5,740,179 votes, followed by Premadasa with 4,530,902, Election Commission data showed.
The state of the economy dominated the election, with many voters struggling to make ends meet after after tough spending cuts ordered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the wake of the country’s economic crisis in 2022.
“This victory belongs to all of us,” Dissanayake said in a post on X.