Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's sweeping coalition election win this week underlined widening support for his leftist policies, but he faces the test of steering the nation's recovery from a financial crisis with an inexperienced set of lawmakers.

Sri Lanka holds a snap election on Thursday which will determine if the South Asian island nation wants to empower its new, leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to push his anti-poverty policies as it recovers from a financial meltdown.

Sri Lankans are voting in a parliamentary election that’s key for their new, Marxist-leaning president to consolidate his party’s power and follow through on promises of economic recovery