Will a proven leftist become Sri Lanka’s new president for the first time? Recent polls show a close race between the two leading candidates in the South Asian island nation of about 22 million people. So there is still a chance that Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a member of the left-wing National Power Party (NPP) who was already considered a strong candidate in the first round of voting after the severe economic and financial crisis, will emerge as the winner.