Sri Lanka presidential poll: Counting heads to ‘historic’ second round as Marxist candidate leads
Anura Dissanayake
The Sri Lankan presidential election is going down to the wire. For the first time in the island country's history, the vote counting hasgone into the second round after no single candidate managed to win 50 per cent plus one vote needed to emerge victorious.
Notably, Sri Lanka follows thefirst-past-the-post system in which voters are allowed to choose three candidates, with the candidatesecuring at least 50 per centor more of the overall vote declared the winner.If no candidate gets 50 per cent in the first round, there is a legal provision for a run-off between the two frontrunners.
Since 1982, all of Sri Lanka's eight presidential elections have seen the winner emerge in the first round of counting. However, this year's poll has been described as one of the closest as it comes in the aftermath of Sri Lanka going through one of its worst economic crises.
While early results showedMarxist-leaning leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake out of the blocks quickly, his lead slowly dwindled,setting the stage for a fascinating second round of counting.
As of the last update, Dissanayake was leading with 39.65 per cent of the vote.Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was in second place with 34.09 per centof the total vote.
The Sri Lanka Election Commission added that all the remaining candidates, includingPresident Ranil Wickremesinghe, had been disqualified.
Watch |Sri Lanka Presidential Election: Who do people trust for island nation's future
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Who isDissanayake?
Dissanayake, the frontrunner to win the election, contested as a candidate for the National People's Power (NPP) alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna Party (JVP) that has traditionally backed stronger state intervention, lower taxesand more closed market economic policies.
NPP has proposed to break away from the cycle of corruption and mismanagement that has plagued the island nation for years.
As for his economic policies,Dissanayake has vowed not to scrap thecountry's unpopular four-year $2.9 billion IMF (International Monetary Fund) bailout agreement but said he would renegotiate it.
"Our plan is to engage with the IMF and introduce certain amendments. We will not tear up the IMF programme. It is a binding document, but there is a provision to renegotiate," party politburo member Bimal Ratnayake told the news agency AFP.
Notably,Dissanayake haspledged to reduce income taxes that were doubled by President Ranil Wickremesinghe and slash sales taxes on food and medicines.
(With inputs from agencies)