Counting of votes in the Sri Lankan snap elections is underway as the country’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake seeks to increase NPP’s power in the parliament. The results show Dissanayake heading

Sri Lanka began counting votes cast on Thursday in a snap general election that will decide if the Indian Ocean island nation will give its new leftist president greater legislative power to help the poor as it recovers from a financial meltdown.

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.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's promise to hold corrupt officials accountable has fueled his public support.

Sri Lanka's new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake was confident of a victory as polls closed in Thursday's snap legislative elections.

Sri Lankans began voting on Thursday in a snap Parliamentary election, widely seen as an attempt by new Leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to seek a clear mandate to push his pro-poor welfare policies.

Sri Lanka's president's coalition, the National People's Power (NPP) posted an early lead in a parliamentary election, local television channel Ada Derana said on Thursday. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake called for snap a general election in September to seek a mandate to take forward his policies in the island nation struggling to emerge from a severe financial crisis.

Mr Dissanayake took power in September’s presidential elections on a promise to combat graft. Read more at straitstimes.com.

"We believe that this is a crucial election that will mark a turning point in Sri Lanka," President Dissanayake told reporters after voting in the capital Colombo. The man he defeated in the presidential elections,