Lanka polls: Marxist leader Anura Dissanayake set to be Sri Lanka's new president

In a silent and bloodless revolution, Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake inched towards a sweeping victory in Sri Lanka’s presidential elections. A party colleague said he could be sworn in later Sunday.

Rivals rushed to congratulate Dissanayake, 55, leader of the Janathi Vimukti Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front), as ongoing vote count showed that he could mop up nearly or even more than 50 per cent of the votes.

Any candidate has to cross the 50-per cent margin to be declared a winner. A failure would lead to officials counting the second and third preference votes of all other candidates except the two who finish on top.

Voters root for JVP

In contrast to what many projected would be a fiercely contested race, media reports Sunday showed that Dissanayake could either win half of the millions of votes polled on Saturday or end up with a whopping 53 percent—a giant leap for one who got just 3 percent in the 2019 presidential battle.

In contrast, main Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, could bag 26 per cent of the votes and incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe, the most experienced among Sri Lankan politicians, with a paltry 16 per cent.

Namal Rajapaksa, son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa whose entry into the contest became big news, is expected to get 3 per cent of the votes – what the JVP leader got five years back.

Swearing in on Sunday?

JVP general secretary Nihal Abheysinghe told the Daily Mirror: “If the formal announcement (about victory) is made on time, the swearing in (of Dissanayake) could take place today.”

Outgoing foreign minister Ali Sabry was among the first to congratulate Dissanayake.

He said although he heavily campaigned for Wickremasinghe, “the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake”.

Rivals hail Dissanayake

“I extend my sincere congratulations to Dissanayake and his team. Leading a country is no easy task, and I genuinely hope that their leadership brings Sri Lanka the peace, prosperity and stability it so deeply deserves.”

SJB MP and Premadasa backer Harsha De Silva “It is now clear Dissanayake will be the new president. In the spirit of democracy and goodwill, I called and wished my friend the best in the arduous road ahead."

Tamil MP MA Sumanthiran, who had asked Tamils to vote for Premadasa, chipped in: "Congratulations (Dissanayake) for an impressive win, achieved without recourse to racial or religious chauvinism.”

What is JVP

Although Dissanayake heads a coalition called the National People’s Alliance, his real strength lies in the well-oiled outfit he heads: the JVP, one of the youngest Marxist parties in Asia.

The JVP lead two armed insurrections in 1971 and 1988-89 to capture power but failed on both occasions. The resultant bloodbath left tens of thousands of people dead on both sides.

Ever since it embraced parliamentary democracy in the 1990s, the JVP has moved away from the politics of the gun. But it remained a party on the fringe of national politics until two years ago.

A shattered economy

The stunning collapse of the Sri Lankan economy in 2022 led to widespread shortages of even essential goods, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets.

The mass movement, known in Sinhalese as “aragalaya” (struggle), was led by the JVP and it led to the dramatic ouster of then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his flight out of Sri Lanka.

Members of the discredited ruling party quickly urged Wickremesinghe to take up the presidency for the rest of Rajapaksa’s term.

How JVP wooed the masses

Wickremesinghe policies led to visible improvement in people’s lives but the IMF-induced tax reforms did not help matters as it became – in the eyes of the JVP and others – a further burden on an impoverished society.

Dissanayake and his party campaigned all these months against what they called were the gross economic inequalities in Sri Lanka and for an end to gross and endemic corruption.