Dissanayake secures over 42% votes

Dissanayake, the 55-year-old leader of the People's Liberation Front, won the presidency with 42.31 per cent of the vote in Saturday's election, the commission said.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76 per cent.

Outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe -- who took office at the peak of the 2022 economic collapse and imposed tough austerity policies per the terms of an IMF bailout -- took a distant third with 17.27 per cent.

Wickremesinghe has yet to concede, but Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said it was clear that Dissanayake had won.