Sri Lankans elected Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake as new president on Sunday, putting faith in his pledge to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economic recovery following the South Asian nation's worst financial crisis in decades, Reuters reported.

Dissanayake, 55, who does not possess political lineage like some of his rivals in the presidential election, led from start to finish during the counting of votes, knocking out incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

"We believe that we can turn this country around, we can build a stable government... and move forward. For me this is not a position, it is a responsibility," Dissanayake told reporters after his victory which was confirmed after a second tally of votes.

The election was a referendum on Wickremesinghe, who led the heavily indebted nation's fragile economic recovery from an economic meltdown but the austerity measures that were key to this recovery angered voters. He finished third with 17% of the votes, read the report.

"Mr. President, here I handover to you with much love, the dear child called Sri Lanka, whom we both love very dearly," Wickremesinghe, 75, said in a statement conceding defeat.

Dissanayake polled 5.6 million or 42.3% of the votes, a massive boost to the 3% he managed in the last presidential election in 2019. Premadasa was second at 32.8%.

It was the first time in the Indian Ocean island's history that the presidential race was decided by a second tally of votes after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50% of votes to be declared winner.

Under the electoral system, voters cast three preferential votes for their chosen candidates. If no candidate wins 50% in the first count, a second tally determines the winner between the top two candidates, using the preferential votes cast, Reuters reported.

About 75% of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots, according to the election commission.

This was the country's first election since its economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.

Dissanayake presented himself as the candidate of change for those reeling under austerity measures linked to a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout, promising to dissolve parliament within 45 days of taking office for a fresh mandate for his policies in general elections.

"The election result clearly shows the uprising that we witnessed in 2022 is not over," said Pradeep Peiris, a political scientist at the University of Colombo.

"People have voted in line with those aspirations to have different political practices and political institutions. AKD (as Dissanayake is popularly known) reflects these aspirations and people have rallied around him."

Dissanayake has worried investors with a manifesto pledging to slash taxes, which could impact IMF fiscal targets, and a $25 billion debt rework. But during campaigning, he took a more conciliatory approach, saying all changes would be undertaken in consultation with the IMF and that he was committed to ensuring repayment of debt, read the report.

Buttressed by the IMF deal, Sri Lanka's economy has managed a tentative recovery. It is expected to grow this year for the first time in three years and inflation has moderated to 0.5% from a crisis peak of 70%.

But the continued high cost of living was a critical issue for many voters as millions remain mired in poverty and many pinned hopes of a better future on the next leader.

Dissanayake ran as a candidate for the National People's Power alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna party.

Although JVP has just three seats in parliament, Dissanayake's promises of tough anti-corruption measures and more policies to support the poor boosted his popularity.

He will have to ensure Sri Lanka sticks with the IMF programme until 2027 to get its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, repay debt, attract investors and help a quarter of its people out of poverty.

"Root cause for the downfall of this country is bad management. We have a strong feeling if we have a good manager to rule this country... we can be successful in future," said Janak Dias, 55, a real estate businessmen.

A gas explosion in a coal mine in Iran's South Khorasan Province killed over 30 people and injured at least 20, Iran's state media said on Sunday.

The accident was caused by a methane gas explosion in two blocks, B and C, of the mine run by the Madanjoo company, state media said.

"76% of the country's coal is provided from this region and around 8 to 10 big companies are working in the region including Madanjoo company," the governor of South Khorasan Province Ali Akbar Rahimi told state TV on Sunday.

The rescue operation in block B has been completed. Of the 47 workers who were in the block 30 died and 17 were injured, Rahimi said earlier.

Rescue operations in block C have started. Methane density in the block is high and the operation will take around 3-4 hours, he added.

There were 69 workers in the blocks at the time of the explosion, state TV reported.

"Seventeen injured people were transported to the hospital and 24 people are still missing," it said earlier on Sunday citing the head of Iran's Red Crescent.

The explosion occurred at 9 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Saturday, state media said.

President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed condolences to the victims' families. "I spoke with ministers and we will do our best to follow up," Pezeshkian said in televised comments.

Iran did not include mobile launchers with the close-range ballistic missiles that Washington last week accused Tehran of delivering to Russia for use against Ukraine, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter, Reuters reported.

The sources - a European diplomat, a European intelligence official and a U.S. official - said it was not clear why Iran did not supply launchers with the Fath-360 missiles, raising questions about when and if the weapons will be operational.

The U.S. official, who like the other sources spoke on condition of anonymity, said Iran had not delivered the launchers at the time of the U.S. announcement about Iran's delivery of the weapons. The European intelligence official said without elaborating that they did not expect Iran to provide launchers.

Reuters first reported Iran's plan to send the missiles to Russia.

Two experts told Reuters there could be several reasons why the launchers were not sent. One is that Russia may plan to modify trucks to carry the missiles, as Iran has done. Another is that by withholding the launchers, Iran is allowing space for new talks with Western powers on easing tensions.

The Russian defense ministry declined to comment.

The U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the Pentagon declined to comment.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tehran denies providing Moscow with the missiles or with thousands of drones that Kyiv and Western officials have said Russia uses against military targets and to destroy civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine’s electrical grid, read the report.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sept. 10 that Iran had delivered the Fath-360s to Russia and would “likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”

The missile would pose an additional challenge for Ukraine, which is constantly adapting its air defenses to innovations by Russian forces. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says the missile travels at four times the speed of sound when approaching targets.

Blinken said the missiles threatened European security and would be fired against short-range targets, allowing Russia to reserve more of its extensive arsenal for targets beyond the front lines. The Fath-360 has a range of up to 75 miles (121 km).

The United States, Germany, Britain and France imposed new sanctions on Iran, and the EU said the bloc was considering fresh measures targeting Iran's aviation sector.

The Kremlin at that time declined to confirm its receipt of the missiles but acknowledged that its cooperation with Iran included “the most sensitive areas.”

Blinken did not say how many Fath-360s Iran supplied to Russia or when they were sent.

Reuters determined through shipping data that a Russian freighter sanctioned by Washington, the Port Olya-3, made voyages between Iran’s Caspian Sea port of Amirabad and the Russian port of Olya several times between May and Sept. 12.

Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iranian missiles with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he could not confirm that Tehran withheld the launchers.

Ballistic missiles require specifically designed launchers in order to be fired.

According to Hinz, one reason Iran didn't send launchers may be that the civilian trucks that Iran modified to launch these and other missiles are not robust enough to operate in rough terrain during Ukraine's harsh winter. Iran modifies trucks made by Mercedes and other companies and turns them into easily disguised missile launchers, he said.

That suggests, he continued, that Russia could modify its own military-grade vehicles.

"A commercial, off-the-shelf Mercedes truck is just not that off-road capable," he said

David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear inspector who heads the Institute for Science and International Security, also could not say whether Iran delivered the launchers.

But he noted that Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and other Iranian officials will be meeting with European officials on the sidelines of next week’s U.N. General Assembly in New York to test the potential for diplomacy on Tehran’s nuclear program, regional tensions and other disputes, read the report.

“It could be that they (Iran) are holding back the launchers to provide a little space for these talks,” he said. “One can imagine that if there are Iranian missiles raining down (on Ukraine) there would be condemnation at the General Assembly.”

But he was skeptical of any progress, saying he doubted Iran would make the necessary compromises.