evidence: Outgoing President Wickremesinghe in a video statement congratulated Dissanayake and said he hoped he will carry forward the economic recovery efforts successfully. The election was a virtual referendum on Wickremesinghe’s leadership, including restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt under an International Monetary Fund bailout after it defaulted in 2022. [...] Under Wickremesinghe, inflation has dropped and foreign reserves and the local currency have strengthened. A 2% economic growth is predicted this year after a 7% contraction in 2022. But Sri Lankans are still struggling with high taxes and living costs. [...] He said Dissanayake represented the spirit of the 2022 uprising during which angry Sri Lankans ousted then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and called for a "system change" and "new faces in politics."