Neighboring country Sri Lanka has got its new president. Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as the ninth president of the country on Monday morning. He defeated his nearest rival Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Party (SJB) in the vote counting held on Sunday. Dissanayake was fielded as the presidential candidate by the National People's Power (NPP), a coalition front of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Party (JVP).
Dissanayake elected as President of Sri Lanka
In the first round of counting on Sunday, no candidate managed to secure 50 percent of the votes. After which the election went into the second preference round. After the counting of votes, Dissanayake has been elected the President of Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans hope that this will strengthen the country's economy and end corruption. Throughout the election campaign, Dissanayake has presented himself as a liberal and change-oriented leader.
Sri Lanka's captaincy is now in the hands of Anura Kumara
56-year-old Anura Kumar Dissanayake was sworn in by Chief Justice Jayant Jayasuriya. Dissanayake is an MP from Sri Lanka's capital Colombo and is influenced by leftist ideology. He is also the president of the country's leftist party Janatha Vimukthi Mukti Party. He also contested the presidential election in 2019 and was the chief opposition whip from 2015 to 2018. During the campaign to free the country from debt and reduce corruption, Dissanayake has put his policies in front of the people.
Anura contested the election from the NPP alliance
Anura Kumara Dissanayake contested the election as the candidate of the National People's Power (NPP) coalition, which also included his Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP) party.