Sri Lanka will vote in a snap general election on Thursday, called by new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to secure a majority in parliament to back his policies in the island nation struggling to recover from a crushing financial crisis.

Sri Lanka is holding a snap general election to aid President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in securing a parliamentary majority. The election, featuring 17.1 million eligible voters, was called after the president dissolved the parliament to push forward urgently needed reforms amidst a financial crisis.

In the history of the JVP, Dissanayake has played a particular role in its jettisoning of socialistic demagogy and transformation into a pro-imperialist party of the Sri Lankan ruling class to implement austerity and crush any opposition.

The Rajapaksa family, who hail from Hambantota and whose cohort of brothers gave Sri Lanka two former presidents during a dozen years in power, saw their political fortunes wane a

Sri Lanka's new leftist leader has drawn strong support from an unlikely source as he seeks to expand his three parliamentary seats to a house majority in elections on Thursday.