Who is Sri Lanka’s new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake?

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Marxist president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayake hails from a party behind two deadly insurrections, counts Che Guevara among his heroes and will now helm a country limping back from economic ruin.
The 55-year-old won 42.3 per cent of the ballots in Saturday’s (Sep 21) election, as voters punished establishment parties for a 2022 economic meltdown and hardships imposed by a stringent IMF bailout.
It is a massive turnaround for a man who won just 3 per cent of the votes in the last presidential election in 2019.
His closest rival this time, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, took 32.8 per cent of the votes. Incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe finished third with 17 per cent of the votes.
Who is Anura Kumara Dissanayake and what lies ahead for his leadership?
Born on Nov 24, 1968, Dissanayake, popularly known by his initials AKD, was a labourer’s son with a degree in physical science.
He became involved in leftist politics as a student, around the time when the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed. The agreement was part of the Sri Lankan government’s plan to end the civil war by devolving political power to the minority Tamils under a deal brokered by neighbouring India which would send peacekeeping forces.
However, the accord failed to achieve its stated aim and led to a bloody insurrection in Sri Lanka, spearheaded by the Marxist political party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or People’s Liberation Front.
At the time, Dissanayake, a member of the majority Sinhalese community, was an active student leader of the JVP. The revolt was put down in about two years.
Dissanayake has described how a teacher sheltered him for over a month to save him from government-backed death squads that killed JVP activists, setting fire to their bodies in public using car tyres.
A large number of people disappeared, and unofficial estimates place the death toll from the JVP armed struggle at about 60,000. Some are still unaccounted for.
Dissanayake rose through the ranks of the JVP over the years.
He assumed leadership of the party in 2014, according to his CV, and shortly afterwards made a public declaration it would “never again” take up arms.
His party’s Marxist roots are evident in his office in the capital, with portraits of communist luminaries including Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Friedrich Engels and Fidel Castro.
Outside, a red hammer and sickle flag flies from a flagpole.
Married with two children, Dissanayake spent most of his political career outside of the mainstream.
But he realised that JVP’s political fortunes depended on expanding its base and widening its appeal. According to The Hindu news portal, he set up the National People’s Power alliance, with over two dozen small political groups, professionals, academics and activists. 
It marked the beginning of a third force, outside of Sri Lanka’s two traditional political camps, The Hindu reported.
In 2019, he ran for president, coming in third with 3 per cent of the votes.
Dissanayake ran as a candidate for the National People’s Power alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning JVP.
Although JVP has just three seats in parliament, Dissanayake’s promises of tough anti-corruption measures and more policies to support the poor boosted his popularity.
“For the first time in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history, governance will shift from the control of a few corrupt elite families to a people’s government,” he wrote in his party’s campaign manifesto.
He also presented himself as the candidate of change for those reeling under austerity measures linked to a US$2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.
Since his rise to popularity, Dissanayake has softened some policies, saying he believes in an open economy and is not totally opposed to privatisation.
“There is a smear campaign against us, saying we will nationalise everything, even cows,” Dissanayake said at a campaign rally.
“We will certainly help farmers to improve, to have their own dairies,” he said. “We will not take over cows.”
His manifesto vows to improve loss-making state enterprises without selling them off.
Dissanayake and his party have mended fences with New Delhi since their anti-India rhetoric in 1987, but he is also seen as being close to China.
The two nations are competing for influence in Sri Lanka, strategically situated on global east-west sea routes.
Dissanayake visited New Delhi this year for meetings with top Indian politicians, shortly after a similar visit to Beijing. 
On Sunday JVP politburo member Bimal Ratnayake said Dissanayake would not allow the island to be caught up in geopolitical rivalry between the two.
“Sri Lankan territory will not be used against any other nation,” he said. 
Saturday’s election was the first since mass protests over the economy ousted former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022. 
The financial crisis was the worst in Sri Lanka’s history as an independent nation since the end of British colonial rule in 1948.
Bolstered by the IMF deal, Sri Lanka’s economy has managed a tentative recovery. It is expected to grow this year for the first time in three years and inflation has moderated to 0.5 per cent from a crisis peak of 70 per cent.
However, the continued high cost of living was a critical issue for many voters as millions remain mired in poverty.
Dissanayake has promised to dissolve parliament within 45 days of taking office for a fresh mandate for his policies in general elections. 
He will have to ensure Sri Lanka sticks with the IMF programme until 2027 to get its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, repay debt, attract investors and help a quarter of its people out of poverty.