Marxist leader Dissanayake wins Lanka’s President election
Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was on Sunday declared winner of the Sri Lankan presidential election by the country’s election commission after an unprecedented second round of counting of votes.
Editorial: Lankan mandate
Dissanayake, 56, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party’s broader front National People’s Power (NPP), defeated his closest rival Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe was eliminated in the first round after he failed to make it to the top two in the vote list. The NPP said Dissanayake would take oath on Monday. He will be the ninth president of the island nation.
Part of 1987 anti-India movement
- Dissanayake joined the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Marxist party, in 1987 when anti-India sentiment was at its peak
- JVP eliminated key activists of parties that backed 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord, which aimed at finding a solution to Tamil demand for political autonomy
- JVP dubbed Indian intervention a betrayal of Lanka’s sovereignty; in 2019, JVP rebranded itself as the National People’s Power (NPP)
- Dissanayake’s visit to India earlier this year is, however, seen as a change in NPP leadership’s approach towards India
After being defeated in the election, Wickremesinghe bid an emotional farewell to his 26-month tenure, marking the end of his presidency.
The election on Saturday was the first to be held since mass protests unseated Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 after the country suffered an economic crisis. Earlier, the election commission ordered a second round of counting after no candidate secured over 50 per cent votes needed to be declared the winner of Saturday’s poll.
In the first round of counting, Dissanayake topped the chart by securing 5.63 million votes or 42.31 per cent, followed by Premadasa with 4.36 million votes or 32.8 per cent and Wickremesinghe getting only 2.29 million votes or 17.27 per cent of the total votes polled. No election in Lanka has ever progressed to the second round of counting, as single candidates have always emerged as clear winners.
