COLOMBO: Sri , Lanka’s Marxist , president-elect , Anura Kumara Dissanayake hails , from , a group behind two fatal uprisings, counts Che Guevara among his soldiers and will now head a state limping back , from , financial damage.
The 55-year-old won 42.3 per cent of the , ballots , in Saturday’s ( Sep 21 ) election, as voters punished establishment parties for a 2022 economic meltdown and hardships imposed by a stringent IMF bailout.
It represents a significant return for a person who received just 3 % of the vote in the previous presidential election in 2019.
His closest competitor this day,  , opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, took 32.8 per share of the vote. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the incumbent, received 37 % of the vote.
Who is , Anura Kumara Dissanayake and what lies ahead for his command?
POLITICAL Foundations
Born on Nov 24, 1968,  , Dissanayake, famously known by his letters AKD, was a labourer’s boy with a diploma in physical research.
He became involved in communist politics as a learner, around the day when the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed. The Sri Lankan administration’s plan to end the civil war included the transfer of political power to the majority Peoples under a deal brokered by neighboring India that would give security forces.
However, the accord failed to achieve its stated aim and led to a bloody insurrection in Sri Lanka, spearheaded by the , Marxist political party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna , ( JVP ) or People’s Liberation Front.
At the time, Dissanayake, a part of the lot Sinhalese area, was an effective student head of the JVP. The uprising was overthrown in about two centuries.
Dissanayake has described how a professor sheltered him for over a quarter to keep him , from , government-backed dying teams that killed JVP protesters, setting fire to their physiques in people using car wheels.
A large number of individuals disappeared, and illegal estimates place the dying toll , from , the JVP armed conflict at about 60, 000. Some people are also missing, though.
RISE THROUGH THE Rates
Over the years, Dissanayake rose up through the divisions of the JVP.
He took over as party leader in 2014, according to his resume, and soon after made a public pledge that it would “never once” take up arms.
His group’s Communist foundations are visible in his business in the funds, with photos of socialist stars including Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Friedrich Engels and Fidel Castro.
Outside, a crimson hammer and spear symbol flies , from , a flagpole.
Married with two babies, Dissanayake spent most of his political career outside of the major.
However, he realized that expanding its center and increasing its charm were key to JVP’s political fortunes. According to The Hindu media gateway, he set up the National People’s Power empire, with over two dozen small political parties, experts, researchers and activists.  ,
It marked the beginning of a second army, outside of Sri Lanka’s two conventional social camps, The Hindu reported.
In 2019, he ran for president, coming in second with 3 per share of the seats.