COLOMBO: Leftist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office as Sri Lanka’s ninth president on Monday, promising clean politics and a commitment to face daunting challenges as the island nation reels from its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years.
The 55-year-old ran as head of the Marxist-leaning National People’s Power coalition and with more than 5.7 million votes defeated opposition leader Sajith Premadasa after a historic second round of counting.
Almost 80 percent of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots on Saturday for the first election held since 2022, when Sri Lanka’s financial collapse spurred mass protests and drove former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from power.
Dissanayake, who lacks the political lineage of some of his rivals in the election, gained support from voters angry at the country’s political elite, whom they blame for plunging the economy into crisis.
“I understand that we are inheriting a country facing many daunting challenges. Our politics must be clean and the people are expecting a culture of integrity. We are ready to commit to that,” Dissanayake said during his oath-taking ceremony in Colombo.
“We are inheriting a nation in a deep crisis. This crisis cannot be overcome by a government, a political party, or an individual alone … My responsibility is to be part of a collective effort to end this crisis.”
He said Sri Lanka would need international support and that he intended to “work with other nations to benefit our country.”
His presidency comes as the South Asian nation seeks to recover from a severe economic crisis that led to shortages of essentials such as food and fuel in 2022, with many people still struggling to make ends meet because of tax hikes and cuts to subsidies and welfare.
“The Sri Lankan voters have elected him with high expectations and hopes … The public strongly believes that the new president and his team possess the capacity to navigate these critical challenges,” said Dr. Mohamed Shariff Anees, a senior lecturer in the political science department at the University of Colombo.
Popularly known as AKD, Dissanayake is Sri Lanka’s first president with a leftist background. The country’s leaders since independence have had capitalist-oriented policies or mixed economic strategies.
In the 2019 election, his NPP coalition won only 3 percent of the vote.
“Dissanayake will encounter numerous challenges in reforming the political and economic systems of the country,” Anees said.
“Economically, he must address the ongoing crisis characterized by high inflation, dwindling foreign reserves and a reliance on international aid, particularly from the IMF and friendly nations. Politically, he faces public discontent over the previous government’s austerity measures and demands for transparency and anti-corruption reforms.”
Sri Lanka’s economic recovery also relies greatly on its relations with other countries. The US, EU member states and Arab countries are top sources of its foreign income, making them crucial contributors to the economy.
Meanwhile, countries like China, Russia, Japan and India also played important roles in supporting the country through economic assistance, Anees said.
“As a small nation significantly affected by economic challenges, Sri Lanka has a high degree of economic dependency on other countries,” he said.
“It is clear that, amid ongoing globalization, Sri Lanka cannot isolate itself from the rest of the world. The country requires political and economic support from other nations.”
Sri Lanka’s close neighbors India, Pakistan and the Maldives have congratulated Dissanayake on his win, along with China, the largest bilateral creditor.
A.L.A. Azeez, Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva from 2018 to 2020, said Dissanayake should seek a “comprehensive” foreign policy approach, adding that previous governments had adopted and failed with their sectoral and fragmented negotiation approach.
“The president and his team would be expected to transform the country’s relationships within the region and beyond into one of enhanced trade and economic engagement that benefits the country in the long term,” he said..
