Left-leaning leader wins Sri Lanka election in political paradigm shift

Anura Kumara Dissanayake offered voters a break with the established political order

Left-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election after a historic second round of counting.

No candidate won more than 50% of the total votes in the first round, where Dissanayake got 42.31% while his closest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, got 32.76%.

But Dissanayake, who promised voters good governance and tough anti-corruption measures, emerged as winner after the second count, which tallied voters' second and third choice candidates.

The election on Saturday was the first to be held since mass protests unseated the country's leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in 2022 after Sri Lanka suffered its worst economic crisis.

Turnout was high - about 76% of the 17 million electorate cast ballots

Dissanayake, 55, told Sri Lankans "this victory belongs to us all", in a message on the social media platform X.

Once preferences had been tallied, the Election Commission said he had won a total of 5,740,179 votes to Premadasa's 4,530,902.

To revive the economy, Dissanayake has promised to develop the manufacturing, agriculture and IT sectors. He has also committed to continuing the deal struck with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail Sri Lanka out of the economic crisis while reducing the impact of its austerity measures on the country’s poorest.

Until this weekend's vote, all of Sri Lanka's eight presidential elections since 1982 have seen the winner emerge during the first round of counting. This poll has been described as one of the closest in the country's history.

Seventeen million Sri Lankans were eligible to vote on Saturday and the country's elections commission said it was the most peaceful in the country's history.

Still, police announced a curfew late Saturday night citing "public safety". It was lifted at noon local time (06:30 GMT).

Dissanayake promised voters tough anti-corruption measures and good governance - messages that resonated strongly with voters who have been clamouring for systematic change since the crisis.

This enabled him to overcome trepidation over the violent past of his political party, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which carried out two armed insurrections against the Sri Lankan state in the 1970s and 80s.

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 – Sinhala for struggle.

He has also sought to moderate the hard left stance of his party, in more recent years.

Early results showed him rocketing to the lead, prompting several high-profile figures - including the country's foreign minister - to congratulate him.

But he lost some ground to Premadasa as voting continued, prompting the need for the second round of counting.

Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe won 17% of the vote, putting him in third place in the polling. He was eliminated from the second count, which was only between the two frontrunners.

Wickremesinghe congratulated his successor.

"With much love and respect for this beloved nation, I hand over its future to the new president," Wickremesinghe said in a statement.

Economic meltdown

The country's new president will be faced with the twin tasks of reviving the economy and lifting millions from crushing poverty.

An economic meltdown fuelled the Aragalaya (struggle) uprising that unseated Rajapaksa from the presidential palace in 2022.

At that time, Sri Lanka's foreign currency reserves had dried up, leaving the country unable to import essentials such as fuel. Public debt had ballooned to $83bn while inflation zoomed to 70%.

This made basics such as food and medicine unaffordable to ordinary people.

The country's economic misery has been blamed on major policy errors, weak exports and years of under-taxation. This was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which choked tourism, a key economic driver.

But many people have also blamed corruption and mismanagement, stoking anger against Rajapaksa and his family, who collectively ruled Sri Lanka for more than 10 years.

Sri Lanka's country's economic misery has been blamed on major policy errors, weak exports and years of under-taxation.

"The most serious challenge is how to restore this economy," Dr Athulasiri Samarakoon, a political scientist at the Open University of Sri Lanka, told the BBC Sinhala Service.

During his term, Wickremesinghe had secured a $2.9bn lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is crucial to opening additional funding channels, but comes with strict economic and governance policy reforms.

Sri Lanka is restructuring the terms of its debt payments with foreign and domestic lenders, as mandated by the IMF. The main focus has been the country's $36bn in foreign debt, of which $7bn is owed to China, its largest bilateral creditor.

Like Dissanayake, Premadasa has also pushed for IT, as well as the establishment of 25 new industrial zones. He said tourism should be supported so that it becomes the country's top foreign currency earner.

Wickremesinghe said during the campaign he would double tourist arrivals and establish a national wealth fund, as well as new economic zones to increase growth.

Additional reporting by BBC Sinhala