The parliamentary polls — held seven weeks after he emerged victorious in presidential voting — reinforced the remarkable shift in Sri Lankan politics, where mainstream parties that led the country for decades have been reduced to the margins as people put faith in a political outsider to bring about transformative change.

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.