Marxist leader set to become Sri Lanka's next president in second vote count

The Star

Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa headed to a run-off for Sri Lanka's presidency on Sunday (Sept 22), the election body said, with a second round of counting to determine the winner using preferential votes.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake is set to be elected as the new president of

00:08Sri Lanka.

00:09The election commission said Dissanayake polled 39.5% of the counted ballots, with Premadasa

00:15finishing second at 34%.

00:18But the commission said since the two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50% of votes,

00:23a second vote count will decide the winner.

00:26Incumbent Reynal Wickremasinghe trailed behind with 17% of the votes.

00:32The final results are expected later on Sunday.

00:56The 55-year-old Dissanayake presented himself as the candidate of change for those reeling

01:18under austerity measures linked to a US$2.9 billion international monetary fund bailout.

01:25He also promised to dissolve parliament within 45 days of taking office for a fresh mandate

01:31for his policies in general elections.

01:34During the election, the government imposed a curfew from 10pm on Saturday to 6am on Sunday,

01:41hours after the polls closed.

01:43The government said the curfew was to ensure public safety.

01:46However, employees in essential and public transport services and those involved in the

01:51election were exempted from the curfew.

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