Anura Kumara Dissanayake: Who is Sri Lanka’s new president?

Left-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been elected as Sri Lanka’s next president after he won the debt-ridden country’s first election since its economy collapsed in 2022.

The 55-year-old beat off his nearest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, to emerge as the clear winner after a historic second round of counting, which included second-preference votes. Outgoing president Ranil Wikremesinghe trailed in third.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for a man who won just 3% of the votes in the 2019 election. Dissanayake, who contested as candidate for the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance, has drawn increasing support in recent years for his anti-corruption platform and pro-poor policies – particularly in the wake of the country’s worst ever economic crisis, which is still having an impact on millions.

He will now inherit governance of a nation that is struggling to emerge from the shadow of that crisis, and a populace that is desperate for change.

So who is president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayake?

Dissanayake was born on 24 November, 1968 in Galewela, a multi-cultural and multi-religious town in central Sri Lanka.

Raised as a member of the middle-class, he is public school educated, has a degree in physics, and first entered politics as a student around the time when the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was signed in 1987: an event that would lead to one of Sri Lanka’s bloodiest periods.

From 1987 to 1989, the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) – a Marxist political party with which Dissanayake would later become closely associated – spearheaded an armed revolt against the Sri Lankan government.

The insurrectionist campaign, spurred by discontent among the youth of the rural lower and middle classes, precipitated a conflict marked by raids, assassinations and attacks against both political opponents and civilians which claimed thousands of lives.

Dissanayake, who was elected to the JVP’s central committee in 1997 and became its leader in 2008, has since apologised for the group’s violence during this so-called “season of terror”.

“A lot of things happened during the armed conflict that should not have happened,” he said in a 2014 interview with the BBC.

“We are still shocked, and shocked that things happened at our hands that should not have happened. We are always deeply saddened and shocked about that.”

The JVP, which currently has just three seats in parliament, is part of the NPP coalition that Dissanayake now heads.

While campaigning for the presidential election, Dissanayake addressed another violent moment in Sri Lanka’s recent history: the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

On 21 April 2019, a succession of deadly blasts tore through churches and international hotels across the capital Colombo, killing at least 290 people and injuring hundreds more in what quickly became the worst attack in Sri Lanka’s history.

Five years later, however, investigations into how the co-ordinated attacks happened, and the security failures that led to them, have failed to provide answers.

Some have accused the former government, led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of obstructing investigations.

In a recent interview with BBC Sinhala, Dissanayake promised he would hold an investigation into the matter if elected – suggesting that authorities had avoided doing so because they were afraid of revealing “their own responsibility”.

It’s just one of many unfulfilled promises from Sri Lanka’s political elite, he added.

“It’s not just this investigation,” he said. “Politicians who promised to stop corruption have engaged in corruption; those who promised to create a debt-free Sri Lanka have only worsened the debt burden; people who promised to strengthen the law have broken it.

“This is exactly why the people of this country want different leadership. We are the ones who can provide it.”

Dissanayake was viewed as a strong contender in the lead-up to Saturday’s election, positioning himself as the candidate for change against a backdrop of simmering nationwide discontent.

Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was driven out of Sri Lanka in 2022 by mass protests sparked by the economic meltdown.

Years of under-taxation, weak exports and major policy errors, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic, dried up the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Public debt reached more than $83bn and inflation soared to 70%.

Rajapaksa and his government were blamed for the crisis. And though his successor, President Wickremesinghe, introduced economic reforms that brought down inflation and strengthened the Sri Lankan rupee, people continue to feel the pinch.

On a deeper level, the 2022 economic crisis and the circumstances surrounding it – including systemic corruption and political impunity – created demand for a different kind of political leadership. Dissanayake has leveraged that demand to his advantage.

He has cast himself as a potential disruptor to a status quo which critics say has long rewarded corruption and cronyism among the political elite.

Dissanayake has repeatedly said he plans to dissolve parliament after coming to power, in order to have a clean slate and a fresh mandate for his policies – suggesting in a recent interview with BBC Sinhala that he would do this within days of being elected.

“There is no point continuing with a parliament that is not in line with what the people want,” he said.

Among Dissanayake’s policy pledges are tough anti-corruption measures, bigger welfare schemes and a promise to slash taxes.

Tax hikes and welfare cuts were imposed by the current government as part of austerity measures aimed at steering the country’s economy back on track – but they also left many people unable to make ends meet.

Dissanayake’s promise to rein in those measures appears to have galvanised support among voters, in an election where analysts predicted economic concerns would be front of mind.

“The country’s soaring inflation, skyrocketing cost-of-living and poverty have left the electorate desperate for solutions to stabilise prices and improve livelihoods,” Soumya Bhowmick, an associate fellow at India-based think tank the Observer Research Foundation, told the BBC before the election.

“With the country seeking to emerge from its economic collapse, this election serves as a crucial moment for shaping Sri Lanka’s recovery trajectory and restoring both domestic and international confidence in its governance.”

Some onlookers, including investors and market participants, expressed concern that Dissanayake’s economic policies could have an impact on fiscal targets and disrupt Sri Lanka’s road to recovery.

The presidential candidate tempered his messaging during campaign speeches, however, insisting that he was committed to ensuring repayment of Sri Lanka’s debt.

He also noted that any changes would be imposed in consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has provided a buttress for the country’s still-embattled economy.

Many analysts think the next president’s main task is building a stable economy.

Athulasiri Samarakoon, senior lecturer in political science and international studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka, told the BBC that “the most serious challenge is how to restore this economy”, including managing public expenditure and increasing public revenue generation.

“Any future government will have to work with the International Monetary Fund,” he noted.

About 76% of Sri Lanka’s 17.1 million electorate turned out to vote in Saturday’s election, according to officials.

By mid-morning on Sunday, Dissanayake had already received messages of congratulations from supporters of his two main rivals, incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said on X that early results clearly pointed to a Dissanayake victory.

“Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” Sabry said.

MP Harsha de Silva, who supported Premadasa, said he had called Dissanayake to offer his congratulations.

“We campaigned hard for @sajithpremadasa but it was not to be. It is now clear @anuradisanayake will be the new President of #SriLanka,” said de Silva, who represents Colombo in parliament.

Another Premadasa supporter, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesman MA Sumanthiran, said Dissanayake delivered an “impressive win” without relying on “racial or religious chauvinism”.

Additional reporting from BBC Sinhala