Anura Kumara Dissanayake: Who is Sri Lanka’s new president?

Left-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been elected as Sri Lanka’s subsequent president after he received the debt-ridden nation’s first election since its financial system collapsed in 2022.

The 55-year-old beat off his nearest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, to emerge as the clear winner after a historic second spherical of counting, which included second-preference votes. Outgoing president Ranil Wikremesinghe trailed in third.

It is a outstanding turnaround for a person who received simply 3% of the votes within the 2019 election. Dissanayake, who contested as candidate for the Nationwide Individuals’s Energy (NPP) alliance, has drawn growing help in recent times for his anti-corruption platform and pro-poor insurance policies – significantly within the wake of the nation’s worst ever financial disaster, which remains to be having an influence on tens of millions.

He’ll now inherit governance of a nation that’s struggling to emerge from the shadow of that disaster, and a populace that’s determined for change.

So who’s president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayake?

Dissanayake was born on 24 November, 1968 in Galewela, a multi-cultural and multi-religious city in central Sri Lanka.

Raised as a member of the middle-class, he’s public college educated, has a level in physics, and first entered politics as a pupil across the time when the Indo-Sri Lanka Settlement was signed in 1987: an occasion that may result in one among Sri Lanka’s bloodiest durations.

From 1987 to 1989, the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) – a Marxist political occasion with which Dissanayake would later turn into intently related – spearheaded an armed revolt towards the Sri Lankan authorities.

The insurrectionist marketing campaign, spurred by discontent among the many youth of the agricultural decrease and center lessons, precipitated a battle marked by raids, assassinations and assaults towards each political opponents and civilians which claimed 1000’s of lives.

Dissanayake, who was elected to the JVP’s central committee in 1997 and have become its chief in 2008, has since apologised for the group’s violence throughout this so-called “season of terror”.

“A whole lot of issues occurred throughout the armed battle that ought to not have occurred,” he stated in a 2014 interview with the BBC.

“We’re nonetheless shocked, and shocked that issues occurred at our palms that ought to not have occurred. We’re all the time deeply saddened and shocked about that.”

The JVP, which at present has simply three seats in parliament, is a part of the NPP coalition that Dissanayake now heads.

Whereas campaigning for the presidential election, Dissanayake addressed one other violent second in Sri Lanka’s current historical past: the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

On 21 April 2019, a succession of lethal blasts tore by way of church buildings and worldwide lodges throughout the capital Colombo, killing no less than 290 folks and injuring lots of extra in what shortly grew to become the worst assault in Sri Lanka’s historical past.

5 years later, nevertheless, investigations into how the co-ordinated assaults occurred, and the safety failures that led to them, have failed to supply solutions.

Some have accused the previous authorities, led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of obstructing investigations.

In a current interview with BBC Sinhala, Dissanayake promised he would maintain an investigation into the matter if elected – suggesting that authorities had prevented doing so as a result of they have been afraid of unveiling “their very own accountability”.

It’s simply one among many unfulfilled guarantees from Sri Lanka’s political elite, he added.

“It’s not simply this investigation,” he stated. “Politicians who promised to cease corruption have engaged in corruption; those that promised to create a debt-free Sri Lanka have solely worsened the debt burden; individuals who promised to strengthen the regulation have damaged it.

“That is precisely why the folks of this nation need totally different management. We’re those who can present it.”

Dissanayake was seen as a powerful contender within the lead-up to Saturday’s election, positioning himself because the candidate for change towards a backdrop of simmering nationwide discontent.

Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was pushed out of Sri Lanka in 2022 by mass protests sparked by the financial meltdown.

Years of under-taxation, weak exports and main coverage errors, mixed with the Covid-19 pandemic, dried up the nation’s overseas alternate reserves. Public debt reached greater than $83bn and inflation soared to 70%.

Rajapaksa and his authorities have been blamed for the disaster. And although his successor, President Wickremesinghe, launched financial reforms that introduced down inflation and strengthened the Sri Lankan rupee, folks proceed to really feel the pinch.

On a deeper stage, the 2022 financial disaster and the circumstances surrounding it – together with systemic corruption and political impunity – created demand for a distinct sort of political management. Dissanayake has leveraged that demand to his benefit.

He has forged himself as a possible disruptor to a establishment which critics say has lengthy rewarded corruption and cronyism among the many political elite.

Dissanayake has repeatedly stated he plans to dissolve parliament after coming to energy, with the intention to have a clear slate and a contemporary mandate for his insurance policies – suggesting in a current interview with BBC Sinhala that he would do that inside days of being elected.

“There isn’t a level persevering with with a parliament that isn’t consistent with what the folks need,” he stated.

Amongst Dissanayake’s coverage pledges are powerful anti-corruption measures, larger welfare schemes and a promise to slash taxes.

Tax hikes and welfare cuts have been imposed by the present authorities as a part of austerity measures aimed toward steering the nation’s financial system again on observe – however in addition they left many individuals unable to make ends meet.

Dissanayake’s promise to rein in these measures seems to have galvanised help amongst voters, in an election the place analysts predicted financial considerations could be entrance of thoughts.

“The nation’s hovering inflation, skyrocketing cost-of-living and poverty have left the citizens determined for options to stabilise costs and enhance livelihoods,” Soumya Bhowmick, an affiliate fellow at India-based suppose tank the Observer Analysis Basis, advised the BBC earlier than the election.

“With the nation in search of to emerge from its financial collapse, this election serves as an important second for shaping Sri Lanka’s restoration trajectory and restoring each home and worldwide confidence in its governance.”

Some onlookers, together with traders and market members, expressed concern that Dissanayake’s financial insurance policies might have an effect on fiscal targets and disrupt Sri Lanka’s highway to restoration.

The presidential candidate tempered his messaging throughout marketing campaign speeches, nevertheless, insisting that he was dedicated to making sure reimbursement of Sri Lanka’s debt.

He additionally famous that any adjustments could be imposed in session with the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF), which has supplied a buttress for the nation’s still-embattled financial system.

Many analysts suppose the following president’s most important job is constructing a secure financial system.

Athulasiri Samarakoon, senior lecturer in political science and worldwide research on the Open College of Sri Lanka, advised the BBC that “essentially the most severe problem is how one can restore this financial system”, together with managing public expenditure and growing public income era.

“Any future authorities should work with the Worldwide Financial Fund,” he famous.

About 76% of Sri Lanka’s 17.1 million citizens turned out to vote in Saturday’s election, in keeping with officers.

By mid-morning on Sunday, Dissanayake had already acquired messages of congratulations from supporters of his two most important rivals, incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition chief Sajith Premadasa.

Overseas Minister Ali Sabry stated on X that early outcomes clearly pointed to a Dissanayake victory.

“Although I closely campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the folks of Sri Lanka have made their determination, and I totally respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” Sabry stated.

MP Harsha de Silva, who supported Premadasa, stated he had known as Dissanayake to supply his congratulations.

“We campaigned exhausting for @sajithpremadasa however it was to not be. It’s now clear @anuradisanayake would be the new President of #SriLanka,” stated de Silva, who represents Colombo in parliament.

One other Premadasa supporter, Tamil Nationwide Alliance (TNA) spokesman MA Sumanthiran, stated Dissanayake delivered an “spectacular win” with out counting on “racial or non secular chauvinism”.

Further reporting from BBC Sinhala