Lanka polls: It's advantage Dissanayake, suggest early trends

National People's Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake seems set to become Sri Lanka’s ninth executive president on Sunday with an impressive show in the presidential election, according to postal voting results of seven electoral districts. 

The Federal carried a story last week, saying Dissanayake has emerged as the frontrunner. Here is the article.

The polling took place on Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm local time at over 13,400 polling stations in 22 electoral districts.

The 56-year-old leader had taken an unassailable lead over his rivals, the main Opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, 57, and the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75.

According to results declared in postal voting of seven of the 22 electoral districts, the NPP leader has gained 56 per cent of the votes, with his rivals trail him by grabbing 19 per cent each.

According to the trend shown in postal voting results, analysts say Dissanayake is likely to win the presidency by 50 per cent plus votes.

This comes after predictions that a second preference vote count might be needed to determine the winner among the three front runners.

The election, dubbed a three-cornered contest between Wickremesinghe, Dissanayake, and Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), shows signs of being a landslide for Dissanayake, who would become Sri Lanka’s first ever-Marxist head of state.

Who is Dissanayake?

Dissanayake heads the National People’s Power (NPP), an alliance of like-minded groups. But he is primarily the leader since 2014 of the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP, or People’s Liberation Front), Sri Lanka’s most influential Marxist outfit, which carried out two bloody insurrections to seize state power in 1971 and 1988-89.

The unprecedented economic crisis that enveloped Sri Lanka at the time, leading to widespread shortages of even essential goods and serpentine queues for almost everything, triggered a massive general revolt whose most important driver was the well-organised and disciplined JVP.

Amid a plethora of election pledges and promises to deliver the moon to the voters, Dissanayake – whose father was a labourer –is viewed as the most committed to fighting corruption as he belongs to a party that has traditionally championed the cause of the underdog. 

(With Agency inputs)