(Reuters) – Sri Lankans elected Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake as their new president on Sunday, banking on his promise to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economic recovery from the South Asian country’s worst financial crisis in decades.
Dissanayake, 55, who has no political pedigree like some of his rivals in the presidential election, led from start to finish in the vote count, ousting Sri Lanka’s incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.
“We believe that we can turn this country around, that we can build a stable government… and move forward. For me this is not a position, it is a responsibility,” Dissanayake told reporters after his victory, which was confirmed after a second vote count.
The elections were a referendum on the management of Wickremesinghe, who led the fragile economic recovery of the country, but whose austerity measures, key to recovery, angered voters. He came third with 17% of the vote.
“Mr President, I hand over to you with much love the dear boy called Sri Lanka, whom we both love very much,” Wickremesinghe, 75, said in a statement acknowledging his defeat.
Dissanayake won 5.6 million votes, or 42.3% of the vote, a massive increase from the 3% he secured in the last presidential election in 2019. Premadasa came second with 32.8%.
It was the first time in the Indian Ocean island’s history that the presidential race was decided by a second recount after the two leading candidates failed to secure the required 50% of votes to be declared winners.
Under the electoral system, voters cast three preferential votes for candidates of their choice. If no candidate receives 50% in the first count, a second count determines the winner between the top two candidates, using the preferential votes cast.
About 75 percent of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots, according to the electoral commission.
It was the first election in the country since its economy collapsed in 2022 due to a severe shortage of foreign currency, which prevented it from paying for imports of essential items such as fuel, medicine and cooking gas. The protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.
Dissanayake presented himself as a candidate of change for those reeling under austerity measures linked to a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and promised to dissolve parliament within 45 days of taking office to win a fresh mandate for his policies in a general election.
“The election result clearly shows that the uprising we witnessed in 2022 is not over,” said Pradeep Peiris, a political scientist at the University of Colombo.
“People voted according to these aspirations for different political practices and political institutions. AKD (as Dissanayake is popularly known) reflects these aspirations and people rallied around him.”
Dissanayake has rattled investors with a manifesto pledging to slash taxes, which could undermine IMF fiscal targets, and a $25 billion debt restructuring. But during the campaign he took a more conciliatory approach, saying any changes would be made in consultation with the IMF and that he was committed to ensuring debt repayment.
Bolstered by the IMF deal, Sri Lanka’s economy has staged a slight recovery. It is expected to grow for the first time in three years this year, and inflation has eased to 0.5% from a peak of 70% reached during the crisis.
However, the high cost of living remains a critical issue for many voters, as millions remain mired in poverty and many pin their hopes for a better future on the next leader.
Dissanayake stood as a candidate for the National People’s Power alliance, which includes his Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP) party.
Although the JVP only has three seats in Parliament, Dissanayake’s promises of tough anti-corruption measures and more pro-poor policies boosted his popularity.
Sri Lanka will need to ensure it sticks to the IMF’s 2027 programme to put its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, repay debt, attract investors and help a quarter of its population out of poverty.
“The root cause of the downfall of this country is poor management. We have a strong feeling that if we have a good manager to govern this country… we can be successful in the future,” said Janak Dias, 55, a real estate developer.
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