Self-avowed Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake has become Sri Lanka’s new president, with the vote delivering a resounding rejection of the old political guard that had brought the island nation to economic ruin. Dissanayake won with the most votes after the counting stretched into a second round on Sunday. His victory came as the former leader of the hard-left Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a fringe party, earned the support of millions of voters who wanted a new face in politics.
During the campaign, Dissanayake promised harsh anti-corruption measures and policies to help people experiencing poverty. He is expected to dissolve parliament within days and call parliamentary elections. The JVP holds three parliamentary seats and is a critical partner in the National People’s Power alliance he heads. His win is also seen as a watershed moment for the party, which had been branded an unelectable radical fringe group due to its role in violent insurrections in the 1970s and 1980s that left thousands dead.
The new president is tasked with reviving the economy and lifting millions of people out of poverty, the twin challenges that helped fuel a popular uprising that drove then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa from power in 2022. He faces a daunting task, with the country’s foreign currency reserves depleted and unable to import essential goods. Inflation soared to more than 70%, while the public debt spiraled out of control.
Dissanayake announced his victory and said he was grateful for the voters’ trust in him. He vowed to work with other parties and the government in the country’s interests. Outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe congratulated the new president and pledged to hand over all responsibilities with love and respect.
Representatives of the country’s main religions—Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam—attended the oath-taking ceremony. During his speech, Dissanayake highlighted his commitment to all communities and emphasised the importance of addressing social issues.
Dissanayake’s first challenge will be to revive the economy, which plunged into a severe recession when the global financial crisis hit in 2008. The nation was left struggling with an unsustainable debt burden, and its foreign exchange reserves drained, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essential goods such as food and medicine.
He has vowed to fight corruption, a major obstacle to economic recovery. In his inauguration address, he spelled out his commitment to clean governance and transparency and promised to address racial and religious divisions in the country.
Born in Galewela, a small farming family, Dissanayake’s political journey began with his involvement in the student wing of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the JVP’s student wing, in the early 1990s. The JVP was founded by the late Somawansa Amarasinghe, who was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary. He was an outspoken opponent of the prevailing capitalist economic system and promoted socialist policies in his party. The JVP merged with the Democratic Left Front, another socialist-oriented political party, 2004 to form the National People’s Power coalition.
