Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has dissolved parliament and called for a parliamentary election in an effort to consolidate his mandate following his weekend election victory.

Marxist politician Anura Dissanayake won Sri Lanka’s presidential election over the weekend, dealing a blow to a political old guard that has been widely blamed for the unprecedented economic crisis that hit the South Asian island nation two years ago.

Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s president on Monday after an election that saw voters reject an old guard accused of leading the country into economic crisis.

Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election as voters rejected the old political guard that has been widely accused of pushing the nation into economic ruin.

Women make up more than half of the voters in Sri Lanka, but in Saturday’s presidential election, not even one will be on the ballot.

Vote counting is underway in Sri Lanka’s presidential election as it seeks to recover from the worst economic crisis and political upheaval.

Sri Lanka will hold its presidential election Sept. 21 in a crucial vote that will decide the future course of the South Asian nation still struggling to recover from its economic collapse in 2022, which provoked mass protests and forced the former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and later resign.

Sri Lanka will hold a presidential election on Sept. 21 that will likely be a test of confidence in President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s efforts to resolve the country’s worst economic crisis.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister and acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe faces two rivals in a parliamentary vote on who will succeed the ousted leader who fled the country last week.

Sri Lanka’s opposition leader, who will seek the presidency next week, is vowing to “listen to the people” who are struggling through the island nation’s worst economic crisis.