Sri Lanka: Presidential Party Sweeps Legislative Elections
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who assumed office starting September 2024, will be given a free hand to implement reforms
The coalition backed by new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won unequivocally in Sri Lanka’s November 14 legislative elections.
Dissanayake, 55, assumed the presidency in September 2024 after winning the election to lead the National Liberation Front (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), a left-wing formation dedicated to promoting manufacturing, agriculture, and technology as a prescription against the worst economic crisis in the country’s history. To this he added a strong anti-corruption stance after the previous government was forced to resign.
The legislative elections now confirm the choice of the previous electoral round: the coalition led by the president’s National Liberation Front party won 159 of the 225 seats in parliament and will therefore have a free hand in governing the country.
“Thank you to everyone who voted for the revival,” commented Dissanayake, who heads the first leftist government in the country’s history, on X social media. In any case, analysts explain that the president is a Marxist by training, but he is open to a market economy.
