Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Dissanayake will take oath today: For the first time a left-leaning candidate won; Youths turned the tables, Rajapaksa family wiped out

For the first time in Sri Lanka, the results of the presidential election were cleared in the second round of counting as no candidate had secured 50% of the votes in the first round. The votes of the two top candidates in the first round, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People’s Power (NPP) and Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), were counted for the second time.

With this, for the first time, left-leaning Anura Dissanayake has become the President. Anura will take oath today at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo. Anura has succeeded in becoming the President with the help of young voters who are hoping for change due to the economic crisis of 2022.

Anura defeated the current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has been the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka six times. Not only this, she ousted the Rajapaksa family, which was in power in Sri Lanka for years. After the victory, PM Modi congratulated Anura on social media. Apart from this, the Indian Ambassador to Sri Lanka also met Anura and wished her. 

From rebellion to power: Anura relaunched the party 5 years ago and reached the chair of the President Anura, who hails from Thambuttegama in the North Central Province, graduated in science from Kelaniya University in Colombo. He joined the JVP in 1987, when the anti-India insurgency was at its peak. The party led two bloody rebellions.

Anura became the head of the party in 2014. The JVP was renamed as NPP in 2019. Anura visited India in February 2024, which is a sign of NPP’s changing attitude towards India.

Leaders of Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa’s parties leaving the country As soon as the election results were announced in Sri Lanka, many politicians and Buddhist monks of Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe’s party left the country from Colombo airport. A senior official said that former minister Susantha Panchinilam left for Chennai on Saturday.

At the same time, United National Party General Secretary Palitha Bandara left for Thailand on Saturday night. Ittekande Saddhatissa left for Hong Kong on Sunday. Earlier, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa had left on Friday itself.

The economy has to be brought back on track. Sri Lanka’s new President Anuradha has two types of challenges. The first is to revive the country’s economy and lift millions of people out of poverty. The economic downturn fueled the rebellion, which removed Rajapaksa from the post of President in the year 2022.

At that time, Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves had been exhausted, making the country unable to import essential commodities like fuel. Anura had promised strict action against the corrupt during his election campaign. If Anura fails to put the big corrupt behind bars after the election, he may have to suffer huge losses in the upcoming general elections.