Cash-strapped Sri Lanka voted for its next president Saturday in an effective referendum on an unpopular International Monetary Fund austerity plan enacted after the island nation's unprecedented financial crisis.

Sri Lanka will hold a presidential election on Saturday for the first time since its strongman president fled the country two years ago in the face of protests over an economic collapse. During the 2022 crisis,

Voting ended in Sri Lanka's presidential election Saturday as the country seeks to recover from the worst economic crisis in its history and the resulting political upheaval. The election, contested by 38 candidates,

Sri Lanka’s 17 million voters head to the polls Saturday to elect a president two years after an economic meltdown and a historic debt default caused widespread political unrest and the ousting of the former strongman leader.

From workers in sprawling tea plantations in the north to big cities in the south, millions of Sri Lankans cast ballots Saturday for a new president, who faces the daunting task of rebuilding an economy still coping with the aftershocks of its collapse two years ago.

Sri Lanka’s president said reopening talks with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout program would represent the biggest threat to the island nation’s economy, hitting back at his opponents who have pledged fresh dialogue with the lender.