Grapevine

Sri Lanka elects Marxist-leaning Dissanayake as president to fix economy

Nation puts faith in Anura Kumara Dissanayake to fight corruption and bolster fragile economy after the worst financial crisis in decades.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been declared the winner of the island nation’s presidential election, according to the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.

The Marxist-leaning Dissanayake, 55, leader of the People’s Liberation Front (JVP) party and leader of the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance, won the presidency with 42.31 percent of the vote in the election, the commission said on Sunday.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76 percent of the vote held on Saturday.

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 International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout – took a distant third place with 17.27 percent of the votes polled.