Marxist-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake leads early official results in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, according to tallies released on Sunday by the Election Commission.
However, he is still short of the 50% needed for victory.
The election held on Saturday is crucial as the country seeks to recover from the worst economic crisis in its history and the resulting political upheaval.
The election, contested by 38 candidates, was largely a three-way race among Mr Dissanayake, incumbent liberal president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.
Mr Dissanayake was leading with 47% of total votes counted, followed by Mr Premadasa with nearly 28% and Mr Wickremesinghe with 15%.
The election was a virtual referendum on Mr Wickremesinghe’s leadership of a fragile recovery, including restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme after it defaulted in 2022.
Sri Lanka’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)
No major incidents were reported during the vote but authorities declared a countrywide curfew until midday on Sunday as a precaution, police said.
There were 17 million eligible voters and final results are expected on Sunday evening.
The government announced on Thursday that it passed the final hurdle in debt restructuring by reaching an agreement in principle with private bond holders.
At the time of its default, Sri Lanka’s local and foreign debt totalled 83 billion dollars (£62.3 billion).
The government says it has now restructured more than 17 billion dollars (£12.8 billion).
Despite a significant improvement in key economic figures, Sri Lankans are struggling with high taxes and living costs.
Both Mr Premadasa and Mr Dissanayake say they will renegotiate the IMF deal to make austerity measures more bearable.
Mr Wickremesinghe has warned that any move to alter the basics of the agreement could delay the release of a fourth tranche of nearly 3 billion dollars (£2.2 billion) that is crucial to maintaining stability.