Sri Lanka has sprung a surprise by electing a 55-year-old leftist politician Aruna Kumara Dissanayake as its new president. This comes at a time when right wing politics are on the rise in other South East Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. Dissanayake, who is commonly known by his initials AKD, emerged victorious after a count of the second-choice votes. Also, it is the first time that voters have elected a candidate who does not belong to the country’s traditional ruling elite.
Sri Lanka has long been held in the tight grip of a handful of powerful political families. The Rajapaksa dynasty, for example, had dominated Sri Lankan politics for well over two decades before mass protests over a severe economic crisis unseated the country’s leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022. The new president has promised sweeping changes in the economy and has vowed to crush corruption in the country. Persuaded by his logic of openness and transformation, voters saw AKD as an opportunity to change Sri Lanka’s stale political system. Ever since Gotabaya Rajapaksa was thrown out by people through a mass protest following the economic crisis, Sri Lanka has been going through a difficult period. Also, Sri Lanka is a deeply religious country where large population follows Buddhism. Still people decided to give chance to a leftist politician, which speaks volumes about AKD. Hopefully the relationship between India and Sri Lanka will also improve in coming days. The Chinese influence over Sri Lanka has been a matter of huge concern.