COLOMBO, Sept 22 — Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake grabbed a commanding early lead today in his bid to become the next president of the debt-ridden country seeking to elect a leader to bolster its fragile economic recovery.

Dissanayake won about 54 per cent of half a million votes counted so far in the election, Sri Lanka's Election Commission data showed. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was second with 20 per cent, a few thousand votes ahead of President Ranil Wickremesinghe in third place.

About 75 per cent of the eligible 17 million people in the Indian Ocean island nation cast their votes in yesterday's election, according to the poll body. — Reuters