Anura Kumara Dissanayake is new Sri Lanka President, calls win ‘vote for change’

Sri Lanka on Saturday elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a Marxist-leaning leader.

As its new President, entrusting him with the task of combating corruption and revitalising the economy after the nation’s worst financial crisis in decades. Dissanayake, 56, won the presidential election, calling it a “vote for change”. This was the first election since the island nation’s economic collapse in 2022.

Dissanayake, who does not have a political background, led the polls from the start, defeating incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa. He received 5.6 million or 42.3 per cent of the votes, a significant jump from the 3 per cent he received in the 2019 presidential election.

Soon after the victory, Dissanayake shared a message on social media, stating that the victory belonged to all. “The dream we have nurtured for centuries is finally coming true. This achievement is not the result of any single person’s work, but the collective effort of hundreds of thousands of you. Your commitment has brought us this far, and for that, I am deeply grateful. This victory belongs to all of us,” Dissanayake wrote in a post on ‘X’.

“The millions of eyes filled with hope and expectation push us forward, and together, we stand ready to rewrite Sri Lankan history,” he added.

The election was also a test for Wickremesinghe, who helped the country recover from its financial crisis in 2022. However, the austerity measures that were key to this recovery hindered his bid to return to office. He finished third with 17 per cent of the vote.

This was the first time in Sri Lanka’s history that the presidential election went to a second round of counting because the top two candidates did not receive the required 50 per cent of the votes to be declared the winner.