Opposition chief Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya is in second place with almost 34.28 per cent of the overall vote.
Sri Lankans voted on Saturday to elect a brand new president within the first election because the financial meltdown in 2022.
Election Fee Chairman R M A L Rathnayake stated that Dissanayake and Premadasa have secured most votes within the 2024 presidential election.
Nonetheless, he stated that as neither has secured greater than 50 per cent vote, the second choice vote will probably be counted and added to those two candidates.
Voters in Sri Lanka elect a single winner by rating as much as three candidates so as of choice. If a candidate receives an absolute majority, they are going to be declared the winner. If not, a second spherical of counting will start, with second and third-choice votes then taken into consideration. Rathnayake stated the brand new president will probably be declared elected after the cumulative votes and choice votes are counted. He additionally stated that the remaining candidates is not going to be thought-about for the choice vote.
Dissanayake, the chief of the Marxist JVP’s broader entrance Nationwide Folks’s Energy (NPP), is main within the cumulative votes.
The Nationwide Folks’s Energy (NPP) chief was earlier heading for a transparent win however his cumulative votes dropped when a lot of the votes have been counted.
No election in Sri Lanka has ever progressed to the second spherical of counting, as single candidates have at all times emerged as clear winners based mostly on first-preference votes.