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 Lanka began counting votes cast on Thursday in a snap general election that will decide if the Indian Ocean island nation will give its new leftist president greater legislative power to help the poor as it recovers from a financial meltdown.