Sri Lanka Leftist Candidate Takes Early Lead in Election.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a leftist politician in Sri Lanka, has taken an early lead in the presidential election. With nearly 1.5 million votes counted, Dissanayake has 49.8% of the vote, followed by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa with 25.8% and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe with 16.4%. A candidate needs to win 50% of the vote to be declared the winner, otherwise a run-off will be held. The election is the first since an economic crisis two years ago, and Dissanayake's coalition has promised to fight corruption and address the country's economic issues. [Extracted from the article]