Cash-strapped Sri Lanka votes to elect new President

Millions of Sri Lankans were casting their votes on Saturday to select a president who will face the task of bolstering the South Asian country's fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades.

More than 17 million of Sri Lanka's 22 million people are eligible to vote in an election that has shaped up to be a close contest between President Ranil Wickremesinghe, main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxist-leaning challenger Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who led in one recent opinion poll.

Citizens in the capital Colombo lined up early at polling booths, which were guarded by security personnel, as voting began at 7 a.m. (0130 GMT). It was proceeding peacefully across the island nation, according to local media.