Heavily indebted Sri Lanka votes in election to decide economic future

People stand in a queue to vote at a polling station during the presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO (Reuters) -Millions of Sri Lankans were casting their votes on Saturday to elect a president who will face the task of bolstering the South Asian country's fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades.

More than 17 million of Sri Lanka's 22 million people are eligible to vote in an 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.