Marxist politician Dissanayake is declared Sri Lanka’s president-elect

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s Election Commission declared a previously fringe Marxist politician the country’s president-elect on Sept 22 after a vote coloured by discontent over the island nation’s response to an unprecedented financial crisis.

Mr Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the 55-year-old leader of the People’s Liberation Front, won the presidency with 42.31 per cent of the vote in the Sept 21 election, the commission said. This marks a massive boost to the 3 per cent he managed in the last presidential election in 2019.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76 per cent.

Outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe – who took office at the peak of the 2022 economic collapse and imposed tough austerity policies per the terms of an IMF bailout – took a distant third with 17.27 per cent.

Mr Wickremesinghe congratulated Mr Dissanayaka for winning the island nation’s presidential polls.

“With much love and respect for this beloved nation, I hand over its future to the new President,” he said in a statement.

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 per cent of votes to be declared winner.

Mr Dissanayake will be sworn in on Sept 23 at the colonial-era President Secretariat in Colombo, election commission officials said.

This is Sri Lanka’s first election since the nation’s economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

to flee and later resign.

“The election result clearly shows the uprising that we witnessed in 2022 is not over,” said Dr Pradeep Peiris, a political scientist at the University of Colombo.

“People have voted in line with those aspirations to have different political practices and political institutions. AKD (as Mr Dissanayake is known) reflects these aspirations and people have rallied around him.”

Mr Dissanayake presented himself as the candidate of change for those reeling under austerity measures linked to a

US$2.9 billion (S$3.74 million) International Monetary Fund bailout,

promising to dissolve Parliament within 45 days of taking office for a fresh mandate for his policies in the general election.

He has worried investors with a manifesto pledging to slash taxes in the island nation, which could impact IMF fiscal targets, and a US$25 billion debt rework.

But during the campaign, he took a more conciliatory approach, saying that any changes would be undertaken in consultation with the IMF and that he was committed to ensuring repayment of debt.

Mr Premadasa also pledged to renegotiate the contours of the IMF deal.

Grinding poverty for millions

Buttressed by the IMF deal, Sri Lanka’s economy has posted a tentative recovery – it is expected to grow in 2024 for the first time in three years, and inflation has collapsed to 0.5 per cent from a crisis peak of 70 per cent.

But the continued high cost of living was a critical issue for many voters, and millions remain mired in poverty, with many pinning hopes of a better future on the next leader.

Voting was peaceful, although police

declared a curfew across the island nation

until noon (2.30pm Singapore time) as a precaution while vote counting continued.

About 75 per cent of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots, according to the commission.

Mr Dissanayake, known for stirring speeches, ran as a candidate for the National People’s Power alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, which has traditionally backed stronger state intervention, lower taxes and more closed market economic policies.

Although the JVP party has just three seats in Parliament, Mr Dissanayake was boosted by his promises of tough anti-corruption measures and more pro-poor policies. He drew big crowds at rallies, calling on Sri Lankans to leave behind the suffering of the crisis.

Mr Premadasa, 57,

entered politics after his father, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, was killed in a suicide bombing

in 1993.

The younger Premadasa polled 42 per cent of the votes in 2019 to finish second, behind Mr Rajapaksa, in the last presidential election.

His centre-left party has promised tax changes to reduce living costs. Support from farming communities in north and central Sri Lanka helped him close the gap on Mr Dissanayake as counting progressed. REUTERS, AFP