Sri Lankans voted on Saturday to choose a president who will face the task of shoring up Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery after its worst financial crisis in decades.
The election is expected to be a tough contest between incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxist-leaning challenger Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who narrowly led in a recent opinion poll.
Voting ended at 4 p.m. (7:30 a.m. Brasilia time) and the counting began shortly after, with the results to be announced by the Election Commission on Sunday. Postal votes are expected to be counted first, Saman Sri Ratnayake, a senior commission official, told Reuters.
The country’s electoral system allows voters to give three preferential votes to their chosen candidates. If no candidate gets 50 percent in the first ballot, a second ballot will determine the winner between the two leading candidates, through preferential votes. Analysts say that is likely to be the case, given the close nature of the election.
Source: Terra
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