Sri Lanka has a new president from the left

Sri Lanka's Election Commission said on September 22 that Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a 55-year-old leftist Marxist lawmaker, had won the presidential election held a day earlier and was expected to be sworn in on September 23.

The September 21 vote marks the first presidential election in the South Asian island nation since the crisis that devastated the country's economy in 2022.

With no previous political experience, Mr Dissanayake led the polls from the start, beating both incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

Mr Dissanayake received 5.6 million votes, or 42.3% – a stunning increase from just 3% he achieved in Sri Lanka's 2019 presidential election.

Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 22, 2024. Photo: PBS

"The dream we have cherished for centuries has finally come true. This achievement is not the result of any individual effort, 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 on the X/Twitter platform after the official results were announced.

“Millions of eyes filled with hope and expectation push us forward, and together, we are ready to rewrite Sri Lanka's history,” he added.

Mr Dissanayake's victory signals a major shift in the mood in the Indian Ocean island nation towards the National People's Power Party (NPP), a small opposition party that has never led a government in Sri Lanka.

During the election campaign, Mr Dissanayake promised to "review" reforms put forward by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to disburse a $3 billion bailout package, hoping to ease the burden on millions of impoverished Sri Lankans.

“Through patient and persistent grassroots organizing, Mr Dissanayake’s campaign was able to channel the demands of the 2022 protest movement for systemic change,” said Alan Keenan, senior adviser on Sri Lanka at the London-based International Crisis Group (ICG). “Mr Dissanayake’s victory is particularly impressive given his party’s previous failures to establish itself as a serious contender for power.”

More than 13 million of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots. The election is also significant because it is the first in Sri Lanka's history to require a second round of voting, as in the first round of counting, no presidential candidate could get the 50% of the votes needed to be declared the winner.

Minh Duc (According to WIO News, Nikkei Asia)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/sri-lanka-co-tong-thong-moi-den-tu-canh-ta-20424092309582485.htm