Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake is a strong candidate for president because his alliance focuses on the working class

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, presidential candidate of the opposition National People’s Power party, speaks to the Associated Press in Colombo, Sri Lanka on August 26. (AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Aug. 28 (AP): A working-class political alliance has emerged as a strong contender in Sri Lanka’s presidential race, casting itself as the catalyst for change that millions of people have been calling for as an unprecedented economic crisis has led to disillusionment with mainstream political parties.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the National People’s Power alliance and presidential candidate, says he supports those who took part in the public protests that toppled then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022. Protesters blamed Rajapaksa for an economic collapse that resulted in severe shortages of basic necessities such as fuel, cooking gas, medicine and food.

“People in our country have a great expectation of change,” Dissanayake told The Associated Press. “They wanted change and we are the agents of that change. All other candidates are the agents of the old, failed, traditional system.” Unsustainable debt, ill-timed tax cuts, poorly planned import bans, economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s insistence on spending scarce foreign reserves to prop up the country’s currency, the rupee, led to the economic collapse in 2022.

Hundreds of thousands held street protests and seized control of key buildings including the President’s Office and the Prime Minister’s Office. Rajapaksa fled his official residence minutes before angry protesters stormed in. He later fled abroad and resigned.