Who is Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka's new Marxist president?

COLOMBIA – Marxist politician Anura Dissanayake won Sri Lanka's presidential election over the weekend, dealing a blow to an old political guard widely blamed for the unprecedented economic crisis that rocked the South Asian island nation two years ago.

Dissanayake, who had secured the support of the youth through his populist campaign on behalf of the working class, defeated opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, who came second, and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over the country two years ago after the economy hit rock bottom.

Dissanayake is the leader of the National People's Power alliance and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front), a Marxist political party that led two unsuccessful armed insurgencies in the 1970s and 1980s in an attempt to seize power through a socialist revolution.

Early interest in politics

Dissanayake was born on November 24, 1968, into a simple family in a rice-growing area in central Sri Lanka and was already politically active during his school days. He took part in student demonstrations against an agreement with India that granted Sri Lanka's Tamil minority a certain degree of self-government. The aim was to meet the demands for autonomy that later culminated in a civil war that lasted for decades.

Dissanayake's political involvement was further strengthened when he began studying science at university and joined the Socialist Students' Union, the student wing of the JVP, which had already carried out an armed uprising in 1971 before laying down its arms and entering politics.

In 1987, the JVP launched its second armed insurgency after the government banned the movement. Its aim was to renounce the agreement with India and overthrow the government. Dissanayake went underground when the government intervened to violently suppress the insurgency, killing the group's leader, Rohana Wijeweera, and almost all of its top members.

During the uprising and its suppression, several thousand people were killed by the JVP and government troops and their agents.

Parliamentary politics

Dissanayake entered public politics in 1993 and worked to rebuild the party under a new exiled leader, Somawansa Amarasinghe. The party won its first seat in parliament in 1994, signalling its re-entry into democratic politics.

Dissanayake became the national organizer of the Socialist Students' Union in 1997 and was elected to the Central Committee of the JVP in the same year. A year later, he joined the party's Politburo.

Dissanayake was elected to Parliament in 2000 and briefly served as Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation when the JVP formed an alliance with President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

This alliance was formed as a countermeasure to a ceasefire agreement between then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the now defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, which was intended to end the separatist conflict that had degenerated into a full-scale civil war.

Dissanayake and the JVP later supported former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the military defeat of the rebels in 2009.

He was elected chairman of the JVP in 2014 after a party split in which a radical left wing split off and formed a new party.

A new coalition

When Dissanayake realized that he could not come to power with his party alone, he founded the NPP in 2019, which brought together 21 groups, including political parties, youth groups, women's groups, trade unions and other civil society groups.

Since the coalition was formed, Dissanayake has moved away from his extreme left stance. Although he remains the leader of a Marxist party, he now says he supports a free market economy.

As chairman of the NPP, he ran for president for the first time in 2019, but lost to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to flee two years later due to protests resulting from the country's economic crisis.

Promise to end austerity and corruption

Dissanayake takes office with a series of promises to improve living standards and clean up the government.

His main campaign theme was accountability. He promised to hold politicians and officials accountable for their actions. He also promised to end corruption and privileges for politicians and former presidents.

But his supporters also expect him to ease the harsh austerity measures imposed on the country by the IMF deal. He has promised to keep the deal alive with changes, saying it is important for the ongoing economic recovery. He has also promised to promote local businesses rather than relying solely on foreign investment.

Dissanayake's election offers little hope for the country's Tamil minority. During the campaign, he refused to give more power to the north and east, where most Tamils ​​live, and to investigate incidents during the civil war that UN investigators say could amount to war crimes. Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed in the final months before the Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated.