Sri Lanka prez poll: Dissanayake leads as authorities count 2nd preference votes

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s electoral authorities on Sunday decided to conduct a second preference count in the presidential polls as none of the candidates secured over 50 percent of the vote in Saturday’s election.

Making the announcement, Election Commission Chairman R.L.A.M. Ratnayake said the decision was in line with the Presidential Elections Act of 1981, Sri Lankan media outlet Daily Mirror reported.

As per the counting trend, left-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, representing the National People's Power (NPP) alliance, was leading by securing over 40 percent of the votes.

The country’s Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party was in the second spot by obtaining the support of over 33 percent of the voters.

“Dissanayaka has topped and Premadasa has got second highest votes. We will eliminate all other candidates from the contest and we will be counting the second and third preferential votes for these two candidates from the other candidates,” Rathnayake said, according to news portal EconomyNext.

This is the first time Sri Lanka has gone for preferential vote counting to elect a president. During all nine previous presidential polls since 1982, the winner was decided outright based on the first preference vote.

Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was in fray as an independent nominee, was running third by receiving about 17.5 percent of the popular mandate.

Namak Rajapaksa, son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was a distant fourth having got only 2.4 percent of the votes.

An estimated 75 percent of the 17.1 million eligible Sri Lankans have exercised their democratic rights peacefully to elect thir head of state for the next five years.

A record 38 candidates vied for the country's highest office in the first election since the economic catastrophe a little more than two years back threw Sri Lanka into political turmoil.

The then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to flee abroad in July 2022 as the country saw an unprecedented food and fuel scarcity and defaulted on its loans.

Wickremesinghe has been steering the country since then.

The Sri Lanka Police have urged citizens to celebrate the results peacefully, regardless of the outcome, and support law enforcers in maintaining order throughout the country.

Curfew was extended across the island nation till 12 noon on Sunday to prevent any breach of law and order.

The police have banned all public marches, whether by vehicle or on foot, until a week after the election results.