Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning Dissanayake in early lead to become president

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Marxist-leaning leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake grabbed a commanding early lead on Sunday in his bid to become the next president of the debt-ridden country seeking to elect a leader to bolster its fragile economic recovery.

Dissanayake won about 54% of half a million votes counted so far in the election, Sri Lanka’s Election Commission data showed. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was second with 20%, a few thousand votes ahead of President Ranil Wickremesinghe in third place.

About 75% of the eligible 17 million people in the Indian Ocean island nation cast their votes in Saturday’s election, according to the poll body.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly)