Sri Lankans voted in a parliamentary election Thursday that is key for the country's new, Marxist-leaning president to consolidate his party's power and follow through on promises of economic recovery.

The National People's Power alliance of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake swept to power after a snap parliamentary election in which voters handed the left-leaning alliance a landslide victory.

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.