Sri Lanka has chosen Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a Marxist-leaning leader, as its new president on Sunday, September 22.
Dissanayake secured victory by pledging to combat corruption and support the nation’s recovery from its worst financial crisis in decades.
He won 5.6 million votes, or 42.3%, a significant improvement from the 3% he received in 2019.
As per BBC, the 55-year-old is expected to disband parliament and soon announce parliamentary elections.
He defeated President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa to become Sri Lanka’s 10th president.
Unlike some of his rivals, Dissanayake doesn’t come from a political family, but he led the vote count from the start.
This election was also seen as a referendum on Wickremesinghe, who had been leading the country’s economic recovery after its collapse in 2022.
However, his austerity policies damaged his re-election bid, and he finished third with 17% of the vote.
Premadasa placed second with 32.8%. For the first time in Sri Lankan history, the election went to a second round of vote counting, as no candidate secured the required 50% in the first round.
