Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the Marxist leader of the People’s Liberation Front (JVP), has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election with 42.31% of the vote, as confirmed by official results announced on Sunday. The 55-year-old declared victory even before the complete results were released, stating on X, that,”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’s ascendance to power marks a significant shift in Sri Lankan politics, reflecting a public rejection of the political establishment blamed for the country’s economic crisis. His victory is particularly notable given that the JVP garnered just over 3% of the votes in the 2019 presidential election.
The election, held on Saturday, saw a voter turnout of 76%, with 17 million citizens eligible to vote. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa came in second with 32.76%, while the outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who managed the country during its economic collapse, secured only 17.27%. Although Wickremesinghe has yet to formally concede, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry acknowledged Dissanayake’s clear victory.
This election is viewed as a referendum on Wickremesinghe’s leadership amid Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic recovery, following a nationwide uprising in 2022. His administration has faced criticism for implementing strict austerity measures as part of a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, which included tax hikes and cuts to social spending. These measures have contributed to rising poverty and soaring living costs in the country.
Dissanayake is set to be sworn in on Monday at the historic Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
