Sri Lanka Elects Marxist Leader as President Amidst Economic Crisis
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the Marxist-leaning National People’s Power coalition, was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s tenth president on Monday. His victory marks a significant shift in the country’s political landscape, with voters rejecting the old guard blamed for the ongoing economic crisis.
Dissanayake, 55, secured a decisive win over opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and 36 other candidates in Saturday’s election. He received 5,740,179 votes, while Premadasa garnered 4,530,902 votes.
The election held on Saturday was pivotal as the country grapples with its worst economic crisis in history, leading to widespread political upheaval. Dissanayake’s ascent to the presidency comes as Sri Lanka seeks to recover from the economic turmoil.
He is the ninth individual to hold Sri Lanka’s powerful executive presidency, established in 1978 through a constitutional amendment that expanded the office’s powers.
Dissanayake’s coalition is spearheaded by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), or People’s Liberation Front, a Marxist party that led two unsuccessful armed insurrections in the 1970s and 1980s to seize power through a socialist revolution. Following their defeat, the JVP entered democratic politics in 1994 and has largely remained in opposition since then. However, they have provided support to several previous presidents and participated in government briefly.
The NPP grouping also encompasses academics, civil society movements, artists, lawyers, and students.
Dissanayake was elected to Parliament in 2000 and held the position of agriculture and irrigation minister under former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. He first contested for the presidency in 2019, losing to Rajapaksa, who was removed from office two years later due to the economic crisis.
The economic crisis stemmed from excessive borrowing to finance projects that failed to generate revenue, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government’s insistence on utilizing scarce foreign reserves to prop up the rupee.