Left-wing candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayaka wins Sri Lanka presidential election

An expected scenario that was confirmed in the ballot boxes. The candidate of the left-wing coalition, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, won the presidential election in Sri Lanka on Sunday, September 22. This 55-year-old repentant Marxist was declared the winner with 42.3% of the vote, ahead of the leader of the opposition in Parliament Sajith Premadasa (32.7%) and the outgoing president Ranil Wickremesinghe (17.2%), according to the electoral commission.

Even before this confirmation, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka announced on Sunday that he would not “would tear” not the $2.9 billion aid plan signed in 2023 with the IMF after long negotiations. “Our desire is to cooperate with the IMF and to introduce certain amendments,” a member of the People’s Liberation Front’s political bureau told AFP. Throughout his campaign, “ADK,” as his camp calls him, has denounced the elites “corrupted” and promised to cut taxes and levies on food and medicine.

Sri Lanka experienced the worst economic crisis in its history in 2022. This precipitated the fall of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, driven from his palace by protesters angry at inflation and shortages. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who came to power in the wake of this, then implemented a brutal austerity policy. Two years later, order has returned to the streets and the economy has recovered, even if it remains very pale, the IMF warned.