Sri Lankan leftist leader sworn in after landslide election win

Colombo, Sri Lanka — 

Sri Lanka's archetypal leftist president was sworn into bureau Monday vowing to reconstruct nationalist religion successful authorities aft choler implicit the land nation's unprecedented economical situation propelled him to a landslide canvass win.

Self-avowed Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayaka of the People's Liberation Front (JVP) took his oath astatine the colonial-era Presidential Secretariat successful Colombo aft trouncing his nearest rivals successful Saturday's vote.

The antecedently fringe politician, whose enactment led 2 failed uprisings that near tens of thousands dead, saw a surge of enactment aft the country's 2022 economical meltdown forced achy hardships connected mean Sri Lankans.

Dissanayaka, 55, was sworn successful by the main justness successful a ceremonial attended by lawmakers, members of the Buddhist clergy and the subject who sang the nationalist anthem aft the ceremony.

"I volition bash my champion to afloat reconstruct the people's assurance successful politicians," Dissanayaka said aft taking the oath.

"I americium not a conjurer, I americium not a magician," helium added. "There are things I cognize and things I don't know, but I volition question the champion proposal and bash my best. For that, I request the enactment of everyone."

Dissanayaka succeeds outgoing president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took bureau astatine the highest of the fiscal situation pursuing the government's first-ever overseas indebtedness default and months of punishing food, substance and medicine shortages.

Wickremesinghe, 75, imposed steep taxation hikes and different austerity measures per the presumption of an International Monetary Fund bailout.

His policies ended the shortages and returned the system to maturation but near millions struggling to marque ends meet.

"I tin confidently accidental that I did my champion to stabilize the state during 1 of its darkest periods," helium said successful a connection aft placing a distant 3rd successful Saturday's poll.

Shortly earlier the ceremony, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena resigned, clearing the mode for Dissanayaka to name his ain cabinet.

Dissanayaka's enactment has said helium wants to person his ain furniture until a caller parliament is elected aboriginal this year. His JVP enactment has lone 3 members successful the 225-member parliament.

He has vowed to property up with the IMF rescue bundle negotiated by his predecessor past twelvemonth but modify its presumption successful bid to present taxation cuts.

"It is simply a binding document, but determination is simply a proviso to renegotiate," Bimal Ratnayake, a elder subordinate of Dissanayaka's party, told AFP.

Legacy of violence

Dissanayaka's enactment led 2 rebellions successful the 1970s and 1980s that near much than 80,000 radical dormant earlier renouncing violence.

It had been a peripheral subordinate successful Sri Lankan authorities successful the decades since, winning little than 4 percent of the ballot during the astir caller parliamentary elections successful 2020.

But Sri Lanka's situation proved an accidental for Dissanayaka, who saw his popularity emergence aft pledging to alteration the island's "corrupt" governmental culture.

The 55-year-old laborer's lad was a JVP pupil person during the 2nd insurrection and has described however 1 of his teachers sheltered him to prevention him from government-backed decease squads that killed enactment activists.

He counts celebrated Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara among his heroes.

Since his emergence to popularity, helium has softened immoderate policies, saying helium believes successful an unfastened system and is not wholly opposed to privatization.