Sri Lanka elected Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its new president yesterday, 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 percent of the vote.
Dissanayake polled 5.6 million or 42.3 percent of the votes, a massive boost to the three percent he managed in the last presidential election in 2019. Premadasa was second at 32.8 percent after the first round of counting of ballots yesterday.
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 percent of votes to be declared winner.
“The dream we have nurtured for centuries is finally coming true,” Dissanayake said in a statement shortly after the announcement yesterday.
“This victory belongs to all of us,” he added. “Millions of eyes filled with hope and expectation push us forward, and together, we stand ready to rewrite Sri Lankan history.”
Wickremesinghe congratulated Dissanayaka on the win and said he was “confident” the politician would “steer Sri Lanka on a path of continued growth and stability.”
Dissanayaka will be sworn in this morning at the colonial-era President Secretariat in Colombo, election commission officials said.
