In the first major political test for President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's NPP, Sri Lanka on Thursday headed to elect a new parliament. Back in September, the ruling party failed to secure 50 percent of the vote in the presidential elections.

COLOMBO: Sri Lankans handed Anura Kumara Dissanayake a thumping win in a snap general election, giving its new leftist president greater legislative power to pursue policies to alleviate poverty and fight graft as the country recovers from a financial meltdown.

The NPP won 107 seats, receiving almost 62 per cent or 6.8 million votes in Thursday’s election, putting them past the majority mark in the parliament, latest results on the Election Commission of Sri Lanka‘s website showed. A two-third majority appeared within reach of the coalition.