By Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly COLOMBO (Reuters) -Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake was leading Sri Lanka's presidential election with half the votes counted on Sunday, seeming to knock out the incumbent for the chance to lead the heavily indebted nation's fragile economic recovery.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s strong showing reveals voter weariness with leadership that has led to a national economic crisis and crushing hardship for many people.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued a gazette imposing the curfew order as a precaution to prevent any untoward incident following the presidential election in Sri Lanka.

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

Mr. Wickremesinghe, 75, a six-time former prime minister, is a political survivor. His elevation to the presidency in 2022, after the overthrow of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, plucked him out of irrelevance and demonstrated his formidable bargaining powers.

Voting ends in Sri Lanka's presidential election as it seeks to recover from economic crisis and political upheaval

Marxist candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake led the early counting in Sri Lanka’s presidential elections Sunday, riding a

Marxist-leaning lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake leads early official results in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, according to tallies released on Sunday by the Election Commission, but he is still short of the 50% needed for victory.