Anura Dissanayake Secures Decidng Victory in Sri Lanka Election

As Sri Lanka emerges and recovers from a dire economic crisis, the country’s voters handed President Anura Kumara Dissanayake a critical win in the snap general election, paving the way for him to expand his leftist coalition’s parliamentary presence. This will hand him more power to implement his anti-poverty and anti-corruption policies.
Describing the election as “a critical turning point for Sri Lanka”, Dissanayake said, “There is a change in Sri Lanka’s political culture that started in September, which must continue.” However, Reuters reported that celebrations were largely sombre, though some supporters of his party National People’s Power (NPP), burst crackers on Colombo outskirts.
The Lankan President has plans to adjust IMF targets to reduce income tax rates allocating more resources to social welfare programs. This, however, has investors worried that changing the IMF agreement is expected to slow future disbursements, which may hinder the country’s prospects of meeting the primary surplus target of 2.3 per cent of the GDP by 2025.
Having a population of 22 million, Sri Lanka was plunged into a severe economic crisis in 2022 with a currency shortage that pushed it into default. The country is recovering from it and the economy has been shrinking by 7.3 per cent in 2022 and 2.3 per cent in 2023. A USD 2.9 billion aid from the IMF brought economic stability; however, citizens still question the high living costs.
Sri Lankan politics, which has long been dominated by family dynasties, sees Dissanayake as an outsider. Although he was first elected president in September, he had minimal legislative backing. His party, the NPP, only held three of the 225 parliamentary seats, forcing him to dissolve parliament and seek a stronger mandate.
NPP won 107 seats, nearly 62 per cent of the vote on Thursday, or 6.8 million ballots, the latest data from the Election Commission of Sri Lanka highlighted. This win has put NPP past the majority mark in the parliament, with a two-third majority not beyond comprehension.
In Sri Lanka's parliamentary election, 196 out of 225 seats are filled through direct elections in 22 constituencies using proportional representation, while 29 seats are allocated based on the nationwide vote share of each party. Over 17 million voters were eligible, with a record 690 political parties and independent groups vying for seats across 22 districts.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya, the party of Dissanayake’s main challenger, Sajith Premadasa, won 28 seats, about 18 per cent of the votes, while former President Ranil Wickremsinghe’s New Democratic Front only won three seats.
The result has bolstered Dissanayake’s will to tackle economic issues. While the president holds executive powers, he needs parliamentary support to form a full cabinet and implement his campaign promises, including tax reductions, support for local industries, and poverty alleviation. Additionally, his proposal to abolish the executive presidency would require two-thirds approval from parliament.