Sri Lankans began voting on Thursday in a snap general election to 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.

A country of 22 million people just across the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka was crushed by a 2022 economic crisis triggered by a severe shortfall of foreign currency, causing the economy to shrink by 7.3% in 2022 and 2.3% last year. Boosted by a $2.9 ...