Sri Lanka Is Experiencing a Political Earthquake

Sri Lanka elected its first left-wing president on September 21. Anura Kumara Dissanayake received 42 percent of votes cast, in the first test of public opinion since the island state of twenty-two million people became bankrupt in 2022.

The leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, People’s Liberation Front) and its National People’s Power (NPP) coalition, who is popularly known as “AKD,” now sits where a popular uprising two years ago drove out Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the mid-term point in his presidency. To right-wing surprise, the Colombo stock exchange rallied following declaration of the result.

It was not the landslide that AKD’s supporters had insisted was on its way, falling short of the 50 percent plus one vote needed for a first-round victory. His election to the presidency came after the distribution of second-preference votes from the eliminated candidates, confirming AKD’s clear lead over his nearest rival, former leader of the opposition Sajith Premadasa.

Nor did he receive the same level of support from Tamil and Muslim ethno-religious minorities (a little under 25 percent of the population) as from the Sinhala (largely Buddhist) majority in a divided postwar society. Still, this outcome is an incredible upset, against all the obstacles of power, class, and capital that were standing in AKD’s way. It was simply unimaginable until quite recently.

Having scored only 3 percent of votes cast in 2019, how was AKD propelled into the highest office in the land in just one electoral cycle? What are the origins of the JVP and how has it evolved? What is the new government’s program and likely direction, and what immediate challenges does it face?

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