Wickremensignhe’s main challengers — opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and parliamentarian Anura Dissanayake, a surprise top contender who heads a new leftist coalition — have promised major political changes, including renegotiating a deal with the International Monetary Fund to win more favorable terms.

Millions of Sri Lankans cast their votes on Saturday to select a new president who will face the task of cementing the South Asian country's fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades.

Sri Lankans go to the polls this weekend for the country’s first election since defaulting on piles of sovereign debt in 2022, when the nation plunged into its worst economic crisis across 70 years of independence.