Sri Lankans voted for a new direction in leadership on Sept. 22, 2024, electing a leftist anti-poverty campaigner as president of the South Asian nati

Sri Lankans throw out old guard in election upset: What nation’s new Marxist-leaning leader means for economy, IMF loans

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2024-10-02 19:30:08

Sri Lankans voted for a new direction in leadership on Sept. 22, 2024, electing a leftist anti-poverty campaigner as president of the South Asian nation.

The ascent of Anura Kumara Dissanayake marks a break with the past and from the establishment parties and politicians blamed for taking the country to the brink of economic collapse in 2022.

Dissanayake characterized the victory as a “fresh start” for Sri Lanka – but he will nonetheless need to address the economic baggage left by his predecessors and the impact of an International Monetary Fund loan that came with painful austerity demands. The Conversation turned to Vidhura S. Tennekoon, an expert on Sri Lanka’s economy at Indiana University, to explain the task facing the new president – and how Dissanayake intends to tackle it.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake leads both the National People’s Power alliance, or NPP, and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or JVP. Rooted in Marxist ideology, the JVP was founded in the 1960s with the aim of seizing power through a socialist revolution. But after two failed armed uprisings in 1971 and 1987-89 – which resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives – the party shifted toward democratic politics and has remained so for over three decades.