Who Is Anura Kumara Dissanayake? The Marxist Leader Elected As Sri Lanka’s President –

Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been declared as Sri Lanka’s next President on Sunday.

Dissanayaka, the 55-year-old leader of the People’s Liberation Front, won the presidency with 42.31 percent of the vote in Saturday’s election, the commission said. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76 percent. 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 percent, reported news agency AFP.

The 2024 presidential election, contested by 38 candidates, was largely a three-way race between Dissanayake, Wickremesinghe and Premadasa. Wickremesinghe was elected by a parliamentary vote in July 2022 to cover the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term.

Who is Anura Kumara Dissanayake?

Dissanayake, who leads National People’s Power (NPP) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has positioned itself as a voice for change, appealing to voters disillusioned by traditional political structures.

His party emerged from the JVP, a Marxist-oriented group that has historically focused on social justice and anti-corruption.

Born in Galewela, a small village in Central Province, on November 24, 1968, Dissanayake moved to Kekirawa at the age of four. He became the first student from his school to qualify for university.

He rose to prominence as a student leader in the 1990s espousing the idea of communism in the island country. In 1997, he was appointed national organiser of the Socialist Youth Organisation, the youth wing of the JVP. By 1998, he had joined the JVP’s decision-making body, the politburo, as reported by Indian Express.

It was in 2004 that Dissanayake rose to prominence, when he contested the parliamentary elections from Kurunegala district and was re-elected. As part of a coalition government, he was made a Cabinet minister in the President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga government. A year later he resigned from his post. In January 2014, Dissanayake ascended to the JVP leadership, replacing Somawansa Amarasinghe. In the 2015 general elections, he contested from Colombo district and won, and later served as the Chief Opposition Whip in Parliament.

Dissanayake first ran for president in 2019 but garnered only about 3% of the vote.

What Dissanayake Promised?

The NPP proposed to break away from what many perceived as “a cycle of corruption and mismanagement” that has plagued Sri Lankan politics for decades and attracted support from those who seek “system change”.

In his campaign speeches, he had highlighted the importance of accountability among politicians, asserting that previous leaders have failed to address the root causes of the economic crisis.

NPP’s manifesto also highlighted the need for substantial reforms in Sri Lanka’s education system, public health services, and addresses housing shortages.

A pre-election opinion survey showed Dissanayake was leading in voting preferences at 36%, followed by Premadasa and Wickremesinghe at third.

How Sri Lanka Presidential Election Takes Place?

The Sri Lankan election system allows voters to select three candidates on their ballots in the order of their preference. If no candidate secures a majority, the top two will be retained and the ballots of the eliminated candidates will be checked for preferences given to either of the top two candidates, and those votes will be added to their respective tallies. The candidate with the highest number of votes after that will be declared the winner.

(With inputs from agencies)