EPALeftist politician Anurakumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election after a historic second round of vote counting.
No candidate got more than 50% of the total votes in the first round, where Dissanayake got 42.31%, while his closest rival, Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa got 32.76%.
But Dissanayake, who promised voters good governance and tough anti-corruption measures, emerged as the winner after a second count of voters’ second- and third-choice candidates.
Election on Saturday It was the first event held in 2022 after Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since mass protests ousted the country’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Good pictures“This victory belongs to all of us,” Dissanayake, 55, told Sri Lankans in a message on social media platform X.
Once the preferences were counted, the Election Commission said that he secured a total of 5,740,179 votes to Premadasa’s 4,530,902 votes.
Dissanayake has promised to develop manufacturing, agriculture and information technology sectors to revive the economy. He has also promised to continue the agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to rescue Sri Lanka from the economic crisis.
Until this weekend’s vote, a winner had emerged during the first round of counting in all eight of Sri Lanka’s presidential elections since 1982. The poll is being described as one of the closest in the country’s history.
Seventeen million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote on Saturday and the country’s Elections Commission said it was the most peaceful in the country’s history.
However, the police announced a curfew on Saturday night citing “public safety”. It was lifted at noon local time (06:30 GMT).
Dissanayake promised voters tough anti-corruption measures and good governance — messages that resonated strongly with voters clamoring for systemic change after the crisis.
This helped him overcome his trepidation over the violent past of his political party, the Marxist Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), which waged two armed insurgencies against the Sri Lankan government in the 1970s and 80s.
His alliance, the National People’s Party – of which the JVP is a constituent – rose to prominence during the 2022 campaign, dubbed the Aragalaya – Sinhala for the struggle.
In recent years, he has tried to moderate his party’s hard-left stance.
Early results showed him leading, prompting several high-profile figures, including the country’s foreign minister, to congratulate him.
But he lost some ground to Premadasa as voting continued, prompting the need for a second round of counting.
Incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe was third with 17% of the vote. He was eliminated from the second count, which was only between the two leading players.
Wickramasinghe congratulated his successor.
In his statement, Wickremesinghe said that with great love and respect for this beloved nation, I entrust its future to the new president.
Economic collapse
The country’s new president will face the twin tasks of revitalizing the economy and lifting millions of people out of crushing poverty.
In 2022, an economic downturn triggered the Aragalaya (protest) uprising that ousted Rajapaksa from the presidency.
By then, Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves had dried up, making it unable to import essential goods such as fuel. Public debt rose to $83bn while inflation rose to 70%.
As a result, basic commodities such as food and medicine were not available to common people.
The country’s economic woes have been blamed on key policy errors, weak exports and years of low taxation. This was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which crippled tourism, a key economic driver.
But many have accused corruption and mismanagement, fueling anger against Rajapakse and his family, who have ruled Sri Lanka jointly for more than 10 years.
EPA“How to revive this economy is a very serious challenge,” political scientist Kalanithi Atulasiri Samarakoon of the Open University of Sri Lanka told the BBC Sinhala service.
During his tenure, Wickremesinghe has received a $2.9bn lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is crucial in opening up additional financing channels, but comes with drastic economic and governance policy reforms.
As mandated by the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka is restructuring its debt service terms with foreign and domestic lenders. A key focus is the country’s $36bn external debt, of which $7bn is owed to China, its largest bilateral creditor.
Like Dissanayake, Premadasa has pushed for information technology and setting up 25 new industrial zones. He said that tourism should be supported as a source of foreign exchange for the country.
During the campaign, Wickremesinghe said he would double tourist arrivals, establish a national wealth fund and create new economic zones to boost growth.
Additional reporting by BBC Sinhala
