Sri Lanka election: Voters "hope for a change" in 1st election since protests ousted leade

Polling ended in Sri Lanka's presidential election on Saturday afternoon, and the Election Commission is expected to announce the winner on Sunday. It's the first time voting has taken place since mass protests unseated the country's leader two years ago. More than 17 million of Sri Lanka's 22 million people were eligible to vote in the election that has shaped up to be a close contest between President Ranil Wickremesinghe, main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxist-leaning challenger Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who led in one recent opinion poll. “We hope there will be a change and people will get a chance to live peacefully and well in a country with a stable economy. This time we are hoping for a change," said voter Anuradhika Priyanganie. This is the first election since Sri Lanka's economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving the Indian Ocean island nation unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. The new president will face the task of bolstering the South Asian country's fragile economic recovery, following its worst financial crisis in decades. For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/10454871/peel-police-apology-calls-meeting-torture-sri-lanka/ Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ Follow Global News on X HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB #GlobalNews