Anura Kumara Dissanayake sworn in as the 9th President of Sri Lanka
Person in News
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Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as the 9th President of Sri Lanka for a six-year term in a ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat building in Colombo on 23 September 2024.
The Election Commission of Sri Lanka on 22 September declared Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the winner of the recently held Presidential election after the second round of counting in the Presidential election.
.Anura Kumara Dissanayake replaced Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President of Sri Lanka, who came a distant third in the Presidential election with just 17% of the vote.
Presidential Election in Sri Lanka
Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 21 September 2024 to elect a new President. This was the first election in the country after a massive protest by the people against the worsening economic condition of the country and the authoritarian and corrupt government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The massive popular protest led to Rajapakse's resignation, and he fled from the country in 2022,
Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the President of Sri Lanka to lead a transition government.
A record 38 candidates were contesting the Presidential election this time.
In the first round of counting, none of the candidates could secure the mandatory 50 per cent of the votes to be declared the winner.
In the first round, Dissanayake got 42.31%, while his closest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, got 32.76%.
In the second round of counting, the voters' second and third choices were counted.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake was declared the winner in the second round of counting.
This was the first time in the history of the Sri Lankan Presidential election that a second round of counting was necessitated. In the previous eight instances, the winners were elected in the first round.
About Anura Kumara Dissanayake
Anura Kumara Dissanayake is a left-leaning politician and leader of the Marxist political party Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP). In the Presidential election, he was the candidate of the National People Power alliance, of which JVP is a member.
The JVP is a hardline Marxist group which led an armed insurrection against the Sri Lankan government from 1987 to 1989 in which thousands of government officials and civilians were killed.
The JVP and the National People’s Power alliance rose to prominence during the 2022 people’s revolt, also known in the Sinhala language as Aragalaya (The Struggle), against the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime.
During his election campaign, Dissanayake promised tough anti-corruption measures, bigger welfare schemes, and a cut in taxes in the country.
After the 2022 economic crisis, the Sri Lankan government negotiated a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund. As part of the bailout package, the Sri Lankan government increased the tax rates and cut welfare expenditures. This has worsened the economic conditions of the poor and the middle class, who voted for Dissanayake in this election.
About Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, also known as Serendib or Ceylon, is an island country in the Indian Ocean that is geographically part of South Asia.
It was a part of the British Empire and gained independence in 1948.
It adopted its current name, Sri Lanka, in 1972 from Ceylon.
It is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.
According to the 1978 constitution, the government is headed by an executive president elected directly by popular vote from a national electorate. The president also selects the council of ministers.
Capital: Colombo (judical and executive), Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (Legislative )
Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
President : Anura Kumara Dissanayake
