More than three dozen candidates are vying to lead Sri Lanka out of an economic collapse that led to the 2022 ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka went to the polls on Saturday for a presidential election, which could impact the country's future after a severe economic crisis and political turmoil.

Sri Lankans will elect a new president in the first election since mass protests sparked by the country's worst-ever economic crisis unseated the leader in 2022. Saturday's election is widely regarded as a referendum on economic reforms meant to put the country on the road to recovery.

The economic collapse led to severe shortages of essentials like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel, causing long lines and widespread public unrest. Protests escalated into riots, resulting in the occupation of key government buildings and the resignation of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country amid the chaos.

Just over two years since Sri Lanka's 'Aragalaya' uprising that deposed the nation's president, the movement that sparked the mass struggle is rallying behind Anura Kumara Dissanayake to lead the fight against corruption and revive a broken economy.

Both leading candidates in Sri Lanka's presidential election are promising to give land to the country’s hundreds of thousands of plantation workers, but the long-marginalized group has heard promises