Sri Lanka’s new president Anura Dissanayake calls snap parliamentary elections to cement power

National People’s powerfulness lawmaker Harini Amarasuriya, 54, signs aft taking oath for the station of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister successful Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday. (AP)

Earlier connected Tuesday, Dissanayake besides appointed Harini Amarasuriya arsenic Prime Minister, making her Sri Lanka’s archetypal pistillate person successful 24 years. Amarasuriya, a 54-year-old assemblage lecturer and activist, is aligned with Dissanayake’s Marxist-leaning National People’s Power coalition.

Her assignment follows Dissanayake’s decisive triumph implicit erstwhile President Ranil Wickremesinghe and absorption person Sajith Premadasa, reflecting nationalist discontent with the erstwhile administration’s handling of a terrible economical crisis.

Amarasuriya, who besides assumed responsibilities for 4 different ministries—including justice, health, women, trade, and industries—will beryllium supported by Vijitha Herath, who was fixed oversight of six departments including overseas affairs, transport, and nationalist security.

Dissanayake has pledged to easiness the stringent austerity measures imposed by his predecessor nether an IMF bailout agreement, a situation that could perchance interaction the merchandise of a forthcoming $3 cardinal tranche.

Sri Lanka’s economical troubles person been exacerbated by mediocre management, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the 2019 violent attacks, severely affecting the tourism industry.

Since cosmopolitan suffrage was introduced successful 1931, Sri Lankan authorities person mostly been male-dominated, a inclination mirrored globally. As of 2023, lone 13 of the 193 UN subordinate states person pistillate heads of government, according to Pew Research Centre.

The past pistillate premier minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was the world’s archetypal pistillate caput of authorities erstwhile she took bureau successful 1960 and served until 2000.

(with inputs from AP)