Anura Disnayake was sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka today after winning the elections. The ceremony was held at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo. This is the first time in Sri Lanka that presidential election results have been confirmed in the second round of counting as no candidate received 50% of the votes in the first round of counting.
The votes of the two top candidates in the first phase, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of National People's Power (NPP) and Sajith Premadasa of Samgi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), were counted a second time. Anura has managed to become President with the help of young voters hoping for change due to the economic crisis of 2022.
Anura defeated incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had been the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for 6 times. Not only this, the Rajapakse family, which had been in power for years in Sri Lanka, was removed from power. After the win, PM Modi congratulated Anura on social media. Apart from this, the Indian Ambassador to Sri Lanka also met Anura and wished him well.
From rebellion to power: Anura relaunched the party 5 years ago and rose to the presidency Anura, who hails from Thambutegama in North Central Province, graduated in science from the University of Kelaniya in Colombo. He joined the JVP in 1987, when the anti-India revolt was at its peak. The party staged two bloody revolts.
Anura became the party chief in 2014. JVP was renamed NPP in 2019. Anura visited India in February 2024, changing NPP's perspective towards India.
Leaders of Wickersinghe and Rajapaksa's parties left the country With the announcement of election results in Sri Lanka, many politicians and Buddhist monks from the party of Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe left the country from the Colombo airport. Former minister Susantha Panchinilam left for Chennai on Saturday, a senior official said.
Meanwhile, United National Party General Secretary Palitha Bandara left for Thailand on Saturday night. Ittekande Saddatisa left for Hong Kong on Sunday. Before this, Mahida Rajapaksa's brother and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa left on Friday.
Anura visited India in February 2024. During this he met External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.
The economy needs to be brought back on track Sri Lanka's new President Anura faces two challenges. The first involves revitalizing the country's economy and lifting millions of people out of poverty. The economic downturn fueled the coup, which ousted Rajapaksa from the presidency in 2022.
At the time, Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves were depleted, leaving the country unable to import essential commodities such as fuel. Anura had promised strict action against the corrupt during his election campaign. If Anura fails to put the big corrupt behind the bars after the elections, he may suffer a heavy loss in the next general elections.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
