Three decades after his father was assassinated as Sri Lanka's leader, opposition chief Sajith Premadasa is a top contender to take on the role in this week's presidential elections. But Premadasa performed far better in parliamentary elections a year later,

Sajith Premadasa, the leader of Sri Lanka's main opposition party, is a frontrunner in Saturday's presidential election and a win will hand him the top job more than 30 years after his father was assassinated while holding the same post.

With 38 candidates in the race, Premadasa is polling second at 32%, according to the Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey, trailing Anura Kumara Dissanayake at 36% and ahead of President Ranil Wickremesinghe at 28%.