In Sri Lanka, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the National People’s Power party, won the Presidential election on September 22, 2024. He defeated Sajith Premadasa from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party. The current President, Ranil Wickremasinghe, lost the election.
Dissanayake received 5.6 million votes (42.3%), which is a big improvement from the 3% he got in the 2019 election. Premadasa came second with 32.8% of the votes.
It was the first time in the Sri Lank History history that the presidential race was decided by a second tally of votes after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50% of votes to be declared winner. Under the electoral system, voters cast three preferential votes for their chosen candidates. If no candidate wins 50% in the first count, a second tally determines the winner between the top two candidates, using the preferential votes cast.
