Anura Kumara Dissanayake in 2023. Photo by Bunty456 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Sri Lankans made history by electing Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) as Sri Lanka’s ninth executive president in the September 21 presidential election. Dissanayake, the charismatic and left-leaning leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front), has been a prominent opposition figure in the fight against corruption and mismanagement in the island nation, which has been struggling with an economic crisis since 2019.

Journalist Azzam Ameen posted on X (formerly Twitter):

Official: Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won the 2024 Sri Lanka Presidential Election. He will be the 9th Executive President of Sri Lanka pic.twitter.com/eDFwA1eFFI

— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) September 22, 2024

An indirect presidential election took place in the Sri Lankan Parliament on July 20, 2022, following the self-imposed exile and resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on July 14. He stepped down in response to the grassroots resistance movement Aragalaya (the struggle), which demanded his resignation. On July 20, 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the incumbent Prime Minister, was elected as the President in a secret ballot in the parliament. Wickremasinghe, a leader of the center-right United National Party (UNP), tried to stabilize the country’s economy by securing a USD 2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 2023. His leadership helped the country recover from the previous downward spiral, but the citizens were not happy with his austerity measures and his ties with the ousted Rajapaksa family.

The three major presidential candidates extensively used social media in their election campaign to target their supporter base with approximately 200,000 first-time voters and one million new voters.

Second-round voting

On September 21, 2024, Sri Lankans participated in the country's ninth presidential election, with approximately 17 million out of the 22 million population eligible to vote. In the first round of voting, no candidate achieved the required 50 percent majority, with AKD leading at 42 percent and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa securing 33 percent. The incumbent President Wickremesinghe finished a distant third with 17.27 percent of the vote.

Final result of first count – Sri Lanka Presidential election 2024.

3%>42.31% AKD

52.25%>2.57% SLPP

41.9%>32.76% SP

*People’s mandate above all!
*Nobody is irreplaceable !
*Organic growth matters! Votes gained by creating fear + racisms and blood will never last long. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/Xzq9ZYLkuO

— Dr.Amila Fernando🪬 (@DrBukkabwoi) September 22, 2024

According to election law, a second preference round was conducted to decide the winner between Dissanayake and runner-up Sajith Premadasa. Voters could rank up to three candidates on their ballots under Sri Lanka's preferential voting system. On September 22, after tallying the preferences, the Election Commission declared that Dissanayake had secured 5,740,179 votes (55.89 percent), while Premadasa received 4,530,902 (44.11 percent).

Dissanayake's inauguration took place on the next day where he vowed to “fully restore the people’s confidence in politicians.”

Photos of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake taking the oath as the 9th Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.#LKA #SriLanka #SriLankaElections @anuradisanayake pic.twitter.com/pcxMZtgBS6

— Sri Lanka Tweet 🇱🇰 (@SriLankaTweet) September 23, 2024

The rise of Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD)

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, known as “AKD,” was born on November 24, 1968, into a modest farming family in Anuradhapura. His political career began through the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) student wing, inspired by early life experiences and political violence. Founded in 1965 as a communist party, the JVP led two uprisings against the government in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in thousands of deaths before ultimately renouncing violence. After 2000, it became a Sinhala nationalist-focused organization. Dissanayake first became a Member of Parliament in 2000 and served briefly as Agriculture Minister under President Chandrika Bandaranaike from 2004–2005.

In 2019, Mr. Dissanayake established the National People's Power (NPP) Alliance, uniting over two dozen political groups, professionals, academics, and activists to position the NPP as an alternative to Sri Lanka's dominant political parties, Sri Lanka People's Front (SLPP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP). In the 2020 parliamentary elections, the NPP won only three seats out of 225, and as a Presidential candidate, AKD lost in the 2019 and 2022 Presidential elections.

The AKD's turning point came during the 2022 Aragalaya protests, which led to the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Although the movement was decentralized, Dissanayake's NPP aligned with the people's call for serious “system change,” gaining traction as a credible alternative amidst growing political disillusionment stemming from the politics of SLPP, SLFP and UNP. He is an accomplished orator and his rallies attracted large crowds. His passionate calls for reform and urges to fight against corruption struck a chord with many people.

For many Sri Lankans, President Dissanayake became a symbol of hope as user Thilanka Rathnayaka from Sri Lanka shared on X:

The one and only hope for #SriLanka #akd pic.twitter.com/mtnuiZhbCT

— Thilanka Rathnayaka 🙏🙏🌱🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰 (@thilankadinush) September 21, 2024

Foreign policy: India vs China

India shares a maritime border with the island nation Sri Lanka. In addition to strong ethnic and cultural ties, the two countries maintain close economic relations, with India being Sri Lanka's largest trading partner. India also provided USD 4 billion in financial and humanitarian assistance during Sri Lanka's recent economic crisis.

Sri Lanka plays a key role in the String of Pearls, a political concept of China's strategic initiative in the Indian Ocean called the Maritime Silk Road, which is part of its broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) development strategy.

China had historical ties with the island nation, and during President Mahinda Rajapakse’s tenure from 2005–2015, relations between China and Sri Lanka reached a new level. Following the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009, China has been a major source of foreign aid for Sri Lanka, particularly in financing large-scale infrastructure projects. The country’s second-largest seaport, Hambantota, granted China a 99-year lease in 2017, which is often cited as an example of the Chinese debt trap associated with BRI development projects.

Dissanayake is deemed pro-China and is expected to seek maximum support from China. However, he told reporters that Sri Lanka doesn't want to be caught between China and India as both are valued friends and close partners.

On Sunday (22), I met the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China at the JVP Headquarters. The Ambassador conveyed the good wishes of the Chinese Government on my being elected as the new President and handed me a special congratulatory message from the Chinese President. pic.twitter.com/TP7dnNkeFp

— Anura Kumara Dissanayake (@anuradisanayake) September 23, 2024

On September 25, Dissanayake dissolved the Sri Lankan parliament, making way for a snap parliamentary election. The elections are scheduled for November 14, 2024. It is expected that his NPP alliance will consolidate parliamentary power.

It remains to be seen what Dissanayake will do as President, but it is undeniable that his message resonates with many non-partisan Aragalaya supporters, and his National People’s Power alliance has vowed to deliver the change the movement demanded.