Sri Lankan people elect Mr. Dissanayake as president

Mr Dissanayake, 55, led from start to finish during the vote count, defeating incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

"We believe we can turn this country around, we can form a stable government ... and move forward. For me, this is not a position, it is a responsibility," Mr Dissanayake told reporters after his victory was confirmed after a second count.

Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the National People's Power Party (NPP), was elected President of Sri Lanka. Photo: Reuters

The election was a referendum on Mr Wickremesinghe, who led the heavily indebted country to an economic recovery from the crisis but whose austerity measures angered voters. He came third with 17% of the vote.

"Mr. President, I here hand over to you our beloved child, Sri Lanka, whom we both love dearly," Wickremesinghe, 75, said in a statement conceding defeat.

Mr Dissanayake won 5.6 million votes, or 42.3% of the vote, a sharp increase from the 3% he achieved in the last presidential election in 2019. Premadasa came second with 32.8%.

This is the first time in the history of this Indian Ocean island that the presidential race has been decided by a second round of counting after the two leading candidates failed to get the required 50% of the vote to win in the first round. According to Sri Lanka's election commission, about 75% of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots.

This is Sri Lanka's first election since a severe economic downturn in 2022, triggered by a severe foreign currency shortage that left the country unable to pay for imports of essential goods including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.

Sri Lankans watch news updates on election results in Jaffna, Sri Lanka on September 22, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Mr Dissanayake presents himself as a candidate to bring change to people suffering from austerity measures linked to a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Dissanayake ran as the candidate of the National People's Power coalition, which included his Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna Party (JVP).

He will have to ensure Sri Lanka sticks to an IMF program until 2027 to put its economy on a path of steady growth, stabilize markets, pay off debt, attract investors and lift a quarter of its people out of poverty.

"The root cause of the country's collapse is bad governance. We strongly believe that if we have a good manager to lead this country... we can succeed in the future," said Janak Dias, 55, a real estate businessman.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nguoi-dan-sri-lanka-bau-ong-dissanayake-theo-chu-nghia-marx-lam-tong-thong-post313426.html