Sri Lanka elects Marxist-leaning Dissanayake as president to fix economy

Nation puts faith in Anura Kumara Dissanayake to fight corruption and bolster a fragile economy after the worst financial crisis in decades.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been declared the winner of the presidential election, according to the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.

The Marxist-leaning Dissanayake, 55, leader of the People’s Liberation Front alliance, won the presidency with 42.31 percent of the vote in Saturday’s election, the commission said on Sunday.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76 percent of the vote.

Outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe – who took office at the peak of the 2022 economic collapse and imposed tough austerity policies per the terms of an IMF bailout – took a distant third place with 17.27 percent of the votes polled.

Wickremesinghe has yet to concede, but Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said it was clear that Dissanayaka had won.

It was the first time in Sri Lanka’s history that the presidential race was decided by a second round of counting after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50 percent of votes.

According to election commission officials, the president-elect Dissanayake is expected to be sworn in on Monday at the colonial-era President Secretariat in the main city of Colombo.

Reporting from Colombo, Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez said Dissanayake “brings a certain kind of vitality and charisma” to the presidency.

“Dissanayake was very decisive and confident in the pledges he made carrying the hopes of the people of the nation. There was a certain amount of energy as he walked into a room,” she said, referring to his campaign.

“Dissanayake has been in parliament for 20 years and he has seen the way the political game is played but what he is claiming is that he brings to it a new lease of life that under his leadership will bring a new wind of change,” Fernandez added.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies