COLOMBO, Nov 15, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara 
Dissanayake thanked voters Friday for delivering his leftist coalition a 
landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections that repudiated 
establishment parties blamed for triggering an economic crisis.

Dissanayake, a self-avowed Marxist, swept September presidential elections on 
a promise to combat graft and recover stolen assets, two years after a slow-
motion financial crash imposed widespread hardships on the island nation.

His decision to immediately call polls nearly 10 months ahead of schedule and 
secure parliamentary backing for his agenda was vindicated on Friday, with 
his National People's Power (NPP) coalition taking 159 seats in the 225-
member assembly.

The result delivered the NPP a comfortable two-thirds majority that will 
allow it to push constitutional amendments, including for its proposed plan 
to scrap the presidency altogether and make the prime minister the head of 
government.

"Thank you to all who voted for a renaissance," Dissanayake said in a brief 
statement on social media platform X.

The coalition won a monumental 61.5 percent of the vote while opposition 
leader Sajith Premadasa's party was well behind with 17.6 percent.

In a sign of the magnitude of support for Dissanayake, his party won the most 
votes in the northern district of Jaffna, dominated by the island's minority 
Tamil community, for the first time since independence from Britain in 1948.

Voter turnout was estimated at under 70 percent, less than the 80 percent of 
eligible voters who cast a ballot in September's presidential polls.

- 'Governed by thieves' -

Dissanayake, the 55-year-old son of a labourer, had been an MP for nearly 25 
years and was briefly an agriculture minister but his NPP coalition held just 
three seats in the outgoing assembly.

He stormed to the presidency after successfully distancing himself from 
successive leaders blamed for steering the country to its 2022 economic 
crisis.

The financial crash was the worst in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka's history as 
an independent nation, sparking months-long shortages of food, fuel and 
essential medicines.

The resulting public anger culminated in the storming of then-president 
Gotabaya Rajapaksa's compound, prompting his resignation and temporary exile.

Dissanayake's pledge to change a "corrupt" political culture has resonated 
with millions of Sri Lankans struggling to make ends meet following tax hikes 
and other austerity measures imposed to repair the nation's finances.

"Very happy about this victory," voter Nilusha Nilmini told AFP after the 
scale of the win became clear.

"All this time, the country was governed by thieves, robbers and corrupt 
people. I am very happy that the crooks are out and a clean government has 
been established."

Dissanayake's JVP party, the main constituent in the NPP coalition, led two 
insurrections in 1971 and 1987 that resulted in at least 80,000 deaths.

Party general secretary Tilvin Silva told reporters after final results were 
announced that they would press ahead with promised reforms to scrap Sri 
Lanka's powerful executive presidency, first introduced in 1978.

"We will implement the constitutional reforms we promised," Silva said.

The JVP have pledged to revert Sri Lanka to full parliamentary rule, with the 
prime minister serving as the head of government.

- Investor confidence -

Portraits of communist luminaries including Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, 
Friedrich Engels and Fidel Castro hang in Dissanayake's JVP headquarters in 
the capital.

Since his rise to popularity, however, he has softened some policies, saying 
he believes in an open economy and is not totally opposed to privatisation.

Dissanayake had campaigned on a pledge to renegotiate a controversial $2.9 
billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout secured by his predecessor.

But since taking office, he has resolved to maintain the existing agreement 
with the international lender, and has been strongly backed by the country's 
private sector.

The outgoing parliament was dominated by the party of Mahinda and Gotabaya 
Rajapaksa, two brothers from a powerful political clan who have both served 
as president.

Their party managed to win just three seats in the next assembly.