Sri Lanka picks Marxist-leaning Dissanayake as president to fix economy
SRI LANKA elected Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its new president on Sunday (Sep 22), putting faith in the 55-year-old’s pledge to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades.
Dissanayake, who does not possess political lineage like some of his rivals in the presidential election, led from start to finish during the counting of ballots, knocking out incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa to become Sri Lanka’s 10th president.
The election was also a referendum on Wickremesinghe, who led the heavily indebted nation’s fragile economic recovery from a meltdown in 2022 but the austerity measures that were key to this recovery hindered his bid to return to office. He finished third with 17 per cent of the vote.
Dissanayake polled 5.6 million or 42.3 per cent of the votes, a massive boost to the 3 per cent he managed in the last presidential election in 2019. Premadasa was second at 32.8 per cent after the first round of counting of ballots on Sunday.
Dissanayake, known for stirring speeches, ran as a candidate for the National People’s Power alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP) party. Traditionally, Dissanayake’s party has backed stronger state intervention, lower taxes and more closed market economic policies.
Although JVP has just three seats in parliament, Dissanayake was boosted by his promises of tough anti-corruption measures and more pro-poor policies. He drew big crowds at rallies, calling on Sri Lankans to leave behind the suffering of the crisis.
This is Sri Lanka’s first election since the Indian Ocean nation’s economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.
It was the first time in Sri Lanka’s history that the presidential race was decided by a second round of counting after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50 per cent of votes to be declared winner.
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