Colombo: Sri Lanka's National People's Power (NPP) led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won a resounding victory in Friday's parliamentary elections, securing a two-thirds majority and dominating the Jaffna electoral district,

COLOMBO: Sri Lankans handed Anura Kumara Dissanayake a thumping win in a snap general election, giving its new leftist president greater legislative power to pursue policies to alleviate poverty and fight graft as the country recovers from a financial meltdown.

In the first major political test for President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's NPP, Sri Lanka on Thursday headed to elect a new parliament. Back in September, the ruling party failed to secure 50 percent of the vote in the presidential elections.

In the past four years, the share of people living below the poverty line in Sri Lanka has risen to 25.9 per cent. The World Bank forecasts the economy to grow by just 2.2 per cent in 2024. Mr Dissanayake needs his alliance to win a two-thirds majority of 225 seats in the legislature to press forward with his reform package.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s coalition took an early lead in parliamentary elections seen as a test of the leftist leader’s ambitious pledges to combat corruption and change the terms of an unpopular International Monetary Fund bailout.

The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won a majority in parliament, providing a solid mandate for his economic revival program. Mr Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party won at least 123 of the 225 seats in parliament, according to partial results released by the Elections Commission.

The National People’s Power won a parliamentary election that will allow the country’s new president to unroll his reform agenda, including broader welfare assistance.

The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has taken a large lead in early results from the parliamentary elections, in an apparent solid mandate for his program f