Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of National People’s Power, has been declared the winner of the presidential polls in Sri Lanka on Sunday, making him the country’s 9th Executive President. The Election Commission of Sri Lanka made the announcement after a second vote count, a first in the country’s history.
Dissanayaka triumphed over Sajith Premadasa in the run-off vote, after an initial round of voting saw incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe eliminated. Wickremesinghe, who came in third, had been seeking the presidency for the third time, following unsuccessful bids in 1999 and 2005.
Following his victory, the president-elect took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call for unity among the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, and all Sri Lankans. He emphasized the need for solidarity to rebuild the nation after years of political and economic turmoil.
This was the first election after the economic crisis of 2022. The crisis, which led to widespread food and fuel shortages, prompted Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee in 2022. Rajapaksa’s economic policy, followed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, is believed to have led to the worst economic crisis in the island nation.
