Left-wing leader wins election in Sri Lanka

Left-wing politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won the Sri Lankan presidential election after a historic second round of counting.

No candidate obtained more than 50% of the vote in the first round, with Dissanayake getting 42.31%, while his main rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, got 32.76%.

But Dissanayake, who promised voters good governance and tough anti-corruption measures, emerged victorious after the second count, in which voters’ second and third choices were counted.

The elections on Saturday was the first time since mass protests in 2022 toppled the country’s leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after Sri Lanka suffered its worst economic crisis.

To revive the economy, Dissanayake, 55, has pledged to develop the manufacturing, agriculture and IT sectors. He has also pledged to continue the IMF deal to rescue Sri Lanka from its economic crisis while lessening the impact of austerity measures on the country’s poorest people.

Until this weekend’s vote, all eight presidential elections in Sri Lanka since 1982 had seen the winner emerge in the first round of counting, in a poll described as one of the most exciting in the country’s history.

Seventeen million Sri Lankans were allowed to vote on Saturday, with the country’s electoral commission saying it was the most peaceful event in the country’s history.

However, police announced a curfew late Saturday night, citing “public safety.” It was lifted at 12:00 local time (06:30 GMT).

Dissanayake promised voters tough measures against corruption and good governance, a message that resonated with voters who have been demanding systemic change since the crisis.

This enabled him to overcome his fears about the violent past of his political party, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which led two armed uprisings against the Sri Lankan state in the 1970s and 1980s.

His alliance, the National People’s Party – of which the JVP is a part – rose to prominence during the 2022 protests known as the aragalaya – Sinhalese for struggle.

In recent years he has also tried to moderate his party’s far-left stance.

Early results showed him taking the lead at lightning speed, prompting congratulations from a number of high-profile figures, including the country’s foreign minister.

But he lost some ground to Premadasa as voting continued, necessitating a second count.

Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe won 17% of the vote, placing him third in the poll. He was eliminated in the second count, which was only between the two front-runners.

The country’s new president will have two tasks: to revive the economy and lift millions of people out of crushing poverty.

An economic crisis fueled the ‘Aragalaya’ uprising (struggle) that ousted Rajapaksa from the presidential palace in 2022.

By then, Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves had dried up, leaving the country unable to import basic commodities such as fuel. The national debt had ballooned to $83 billion, while inflation had soared to 70%.

This made basic necessities such as food and medicine unaffordable for ordinary people.

The country’s economic woes have been blamed on major policy mistakes, weak exports and years of under-taxation, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has devastated tourism, a key economic driver.

Many blame corruption and mismanagement, fueling anger at Rajapaksa and his family, who together ruled Sri Lanka for more than a decade.

“The biggest challenge is how we can rebuild this economy,” Dr Athulasiri Samarakoon, a political scientist at the Open University of Sri Lanka, told the BBC Sinhala Service.

During his tenure, Wickremesinghe had secured a $2.9 billion lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), crucial to opening additional financing channels but accompanied by tough economic and governance reforms.

Sri Lanka is restructuring the terms of its debt payments with foreign and domestic lenders, as mandated by the IMF. The focus is primarily on the country’s $36 billion external debt, of which $7 billion is owed to China, the largest bilateral creditor.

Like Dissanayake, Premadasa has also pushed for IT and the creation of 25 new industrial zones. He said tourism should be supported so that it becomes the country’s largest source of foreign exchange.

Wickremesinghe said during the campaign that he would double the number of tourists and create a national prosperity fund and new economic zones to boost growth.

Additional reporting by BBC Sinhala