The Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, in what was viewed as a widespread rejection of the old political elite who are blamed for the country’s ongoing economic woes.
For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, the election went into a runoff on Sunday after no candidate managed to get more than 50% of the votes. However, after second-choice votes were counted, Dissanayake was declared the winner in the evening. “This victory belongs to all of us,” he said, writing on X.
Dissanayake, 55, defeated the incumbent, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was installed as president in 2022 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to resign and flee the country amid a popular uprising.
The win by Dissanayake, the leader of the hardcore leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which is a member of the broader National People Power (NPP) coalition, was seen by many to be a watershed moment for his party. It is the first time it has sat in the presidential office.
The NPP had won just 3% of the votes in the last presidential election in 2019 while JVP holds just three seats in parliament. For many, the JVP had long been considered an unelectable radical fringe group due to past involvement in violent insurrections and targeted assassinations that left thousands dead in the 1980s.
However, since 2022 Sri Lanka has gone through a period of prolonged economic and political tumult that has left many disenchanted with the parties and leaders that have dominated politics for the past two decades. The island nation found itself in serious economic crisis, with barely any money left in foreign reserves to import essential goods such as medicines or pay back international debts.
As the country declared itself virtually bankrupt, it provoked a political uprising against Rajapaksa and his powerful family dynasty who were accused of rampant corruption and misappropriation of state assets. An uprising on the streets, known as the aragalaya [struggle] eventually led to protesters taking over Rajapaksa’s presidential palace – where they swam in his pool and worked out in his gym – forcing his resignation and temporary exile from the country.
For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, the election went into a runoff on Sunday after no candidate managed to get more than 50% of the votes. However, after second-choice votes were counted, Dissanayake was declared the winner in the evening. “This victory belongs to all of us,” he said, writing on X.
Dissanayake, 55, defeated the incumbent, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was installed as president in 2022 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to resign and flee the country amid a popular uprising.
The win by Dissanayake, the leader of the hardcore leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which is a member of the broader National People Power (NPP) coalition, was seen by many to be a watershed moment for his party. It is the first time it has sat in the presidential office.
The NPP had won just 3% of the votes in the last presidential election in 2019 while JVP holds just three seats in parliament. For many, the JVP had long been considered an unelectable radical fringe group due to past involvement in violent insurrections and targeted assassinations that left thousands dead in the 1980s.
However, since 2022 Sri Lanka has gone through a period of prolonged economic and political tumult that has left many disenchanted with the parties and leaders that have dominated politics for the past two decades. The island nation found itself in serious economic crisis, with barely any money left in foreign reserves to import essential goods such as medicines or pay back international debts.
As the country declared itself virtually bankrupt, it provoked a political uprising against Rajapaksa and his powerful family dynasty who were accused of rampant corruption and misappropriation of state assets. An uprising on the streets, known as the aragalaya [struggle] eventually led to protesters taking over Rajapaksa’s presidential palace – where they swam in his pool and worked out in his gym – forcing his resignation and temporary exile from the country.
