After Chaos in Sri Lanka, Voters Bank on Leftist Dissanayake
BJ Sadiq reports on the hopes riding on a new President for Sri Lanka.
Last week, the Sri Lankans voted for a new President. The 55-year-old Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake looked composed as he addressed his nation. ‘The dream we have nurtured for centuries is finally coming true,’ he remarked in an explicit Sinhalese accent shortly after being elected. At the British-era Secretariat in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, with fluttering tapestries bearing the national flag, the mood was one of immense optimism. ‘This victory belongs to all of us,’ he continued ad lib. ‘Millions of eyes filled with hope and expectation, push us forward, and together, we stand ready to rewrite Sri Lankan history.’ The leader sounded solemn, vowing to put an end to graft and poverty, diseases that have long since plagued the country’s economy; while the voters were hopeful and believed their bet on the neo-Marxist figure might fructify their fortunes.
Analysts have welcomed the mandate given to Dissanayake, long since considered a fringe politician, and who swept aside his rivals Wickremesinghe, a former six-time Prime Minister, and main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, the son of a former President. But critics of the new President feel his mind is too solidly cast in the nineteenth century leftist mould; and his association with China could weaken ties with neighbouring India.
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