Sri Lankans vote in election to decide how nation recovers from economic crisis

Polling officers take their duty slips for their respective polling booths ahead of the presidential election in Colombo (Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP)

Sri Lankans began voting on Saturday in a presidential election that will determine the course of the country’s recovery from its worst economic crisis and resulting political upheaval.

The election, contested by 38 candidates, is largely a three-way race among incumbent liberal president Ranil Wickremesinghe, Marxist-leaning lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.