Sri Lankans voted in a parliamentary election Thursday that is key for the country's new, Marxist-leaning president to consolidate his party's power and follow through on promises of economic recovery.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the presidential candidate from National People's Power, addresses his supporters during an election campaign rally ahead of presidential election, on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer

The NPP won 107 seats, receiving almost 62 per cent or 6.8 million votes in Thursday’s election, putting them past the majority mark in the parliament, latest results on the Election Commission of Sri Lanka‘s website showed. A two-third majority appeared within reach of the coalition.

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.

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.

Party of Sri Lanka's new Marxist-leaning president is leading in parliamentary elections, results show. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Anura Kumara 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.

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.

The National People's Power alliance of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake swept to power after a snap parliamentary election in which voters handed the left-leaning alliance a landslide victory.