Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born on 24 November 1968 in the village of Dewahuwa, Matale District, Central Province, Sri Lanka. His father who was an agricultural worker who later joined the surveyor's department as an office aide and his mother was a housewife. He has one sister. An avid reader, his favorites include works by Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky. He has claimed to be inspired by personalities such as Marx, Engels, Lenin, Gandhi, Tito and Castro. Dissanayake received his education at Thambuththegama Gamini Maha Vidyalaya and then Thambuththegama Central College, and became the first student from the college to gain university entrance to the University of Peradeniya. == Political career ==

Socialist Students Union Following the JVP's support for Chandrika Kumaratunga via its proxy the Sri Lanka Progressive Front in the 1994 Sri Lankan parliamentary election, Kumaratunga's government lifted the ban on the JVP and the party re-entered mainstream politics under Somawansa Amarasinghe. Many members of the party soon became vocal critics of the Kumaratunga government. Dissanayake, who has served as a secure courier for Amarasinghe, During his tenure, he took over the maintenance of the Kandy Lake to the Irrigation Department and restored it. He resigned from his ministerial portfolio on 16 June 2005, along with the other JVP ministers, following JVP leader Amerasinghe's decision to withdraw from the UPFA due to their opposition to President Kumaranatunga's controversial joint tsunami relief co-ordination with the LTTE in the North and Eastern provinces, also known as the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). JVP party leader On 2 February 2014, during the 17th National Convention of the JVP, Dissanayake was named as the new leader of the JVP, succeeding Somawansa Amarasinghe. Following his election as the leader, he apologised for the killings by the JVP during the second insurrection. Following the 2015 parliamentary election, he served as Chief Opposition Whip from September 2015 to December 2018. 2019 presidential election On 18 August 2019, the National People's Power, a political alliance led by the JVP, announced that Dissanayake would be its presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential elections. Dissanayake came in third place with 3% of the vote, receiving 418,553 votes. 2024 presidential election On 29 August 2023, the NPP announced that Dissanayake would run for president again in 2024. The first vote count concluded with Dissanayake winning a plurality of the vote with 42.31%, followed by SJB candidate Sajith Premadasa with 32.76%. Since no candidate won a majority, a second round of vote counting was held. Dissanayake was declared the winner after the second count, securing 55.89% of the vote. Dissanayake's victory was largely attributed to the dissatisfaction of the previous governments amidst the nation's ongoing economic crisis. As Dissanayake was the first president to be elected without winning a majority of the vote in the first count, he has been described as a "minority president" by some political commentators. Tamil National Alliance MP M. A. Sumanthiran congratulated Dissanayake on what he claimed as "a victory without relying on racial or religious chauvinism, a key factor that set his campaign apart." == Presidency (2024–present) ==

Inauguration and cabinet Dissanayake was inaugurated as president at the presidential secretariat on 23 September 2024. In his inaugural speech as president, he promised to fulfill the commitments listed in the mandate, reiterating that it would take time for the country to change. He also alluded to the proposal of parliamentary elections, so that a new government can be formed. Dissanayake appointed members to his interim cabinet, which included Ananda Wijepala as the private secretary to his president, Nandika Sanath Kumanayake as secretary to the president, Ravi Seneviratne as secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, and Sampath Thuyacontha as the secretary to the Ministry of Defence. Due to the seat of Dissanayake being vacant in parliament, Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi was appointed as the former's replacement as MP for the Colombo district. Parliamentary elections On 24 September, Dissanayake appointed MP Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister, the third woman to hold the position. He also appointed her as concurrent minister for justice, education and labour. Aside from Amarasuriya, Dissanayake also appointed Vijitha Herath, another NPP MP in Parliament to his cabinet. Later that day, he dissolved the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka and called for early legislative elections scheduled on 14 November. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has stated in late October 2024, that the TNA is willing to work with a Dissanayake government and accept ministerial portfolios. Dissanayake led his party for a landslide victory in the elections by claiming 159 seats out of 225 that gave him over the 2/3 majority in parliament. Economic policy Dissanayake was highly critical of the Wickremesinghe government and the International Monetary Fund, claiming that the IMF only wished to bail out corrupt regimes. He stated that some of the IMF conditions need to be renegotiated, such as the reduction of certain taxes such as the pay-as-you-earn tax, as this has outperformed, while reducing expenditure to meet the primary surplus target. He has indicated that his government would increase social welfare grants while eliminating value-added taxes on essential items such as food, health services, medical equipment, and educational services. His government would reduce the cost of living and increase taxes on the wealthy while supporting their businesses. Since assuming the presidency, Dissanayake has committed to continuing the country's deal with the IMF. President Dissanayake instructed of land belonging to the Kantale Sugar Company to be distributed to farmers for the cultivation of short-term crops. His first budget followed strict fiscal discipline, balancing the IMF program with the party's ideology. With much of the budget being taken up for debt servicing, he increased commitment to education and health as well as Aswesuma welfare benefits within the limits of the IMF program. Anti-corruption and crime Dissanayake has promised to reopen over 400 cases of corruption and fraud, including restarting investigation into the 2015 Central Bank of Sri Lanka bond scandal and the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. Former senior police officer Shani Abeysekara was appointed to head the newly created Police Assets Recovery Unit. The Presidential Secretariat instructed all former ministers and state officials to hand in any official vehicles and firearms issued to them and requested former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe to return vehicles in excess of their entitlements. During his election campaign, Dissanayake pledged to revoke entitlements enjoyed by former presidents and has appointed a committee to look into it. The Parliament would eventually act on the pledge, and revoked the entitlements in September 2025. To fight organised crime, Dissanayake ordered the Attorney General to remove fundamental rights petitions submitted to the Supreme Court against police officers, including officers of the elite Special Task Force. The government's anti-corruption acts received mixed reactions, with praise for stopping corruption at minister and deputy minister level but no major effects on top bureaucratic, middle, and lower levels among public officials. As a result, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) began raids of government institutions and officials with large amounts of unexplained cash. Foreign policy , 5 April 2025 Dissanayake has indicated that Sri Lanka intends to gain BRICS membership, initiated by the previous government. Although invited to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024, Dissanayake indicated that he would be unable to attend due to the elections in the country and will instead send a delegation to the summit. Sri Lanka rejected the resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2024 for an external evidence gathering mechanism, stating that Dissanayake aimed to "make domestic mechanisms credible and sound". On 22 October 2024, cabinet spokesman Vijitha Herath announced that neither the president nor any other ministers would attend the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled to be held in Apia, Samoa, from 25 to 26 October 2024. Instead, a delegation of officials from the Sri Lanka High Commission in the UK and the Foreign Ministry will represent Sri Lanka at the meeting. Also on 22 October 2024, Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane led the Sri Lanka delegation to the 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. The country had initiated its formal application process to join BRICS. Dissanayake's first overseas visit was to India in December 2024, during which he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. In 2025 he pledged that Sri Lankan territory will not be allowed to be used for anti-Indian activities. He also signed an MoU to go ahead with the Indo-Lanka grid connection but refused the proposal for a land bridge connecting Sri Lanka to India. During the 2026 Iran War, he sought to maintain Sri Lanka's neutrality while acting on humanitarian grounds. After the sinking of IRIS Dena, Sri Lanka acted to rescue survivors and recover bodies, while the crew of IRIS Bushehr was evacuated and the ship was interned under international conventions. Sri Lanka also refused US requests to land armed aircraft in Sri Lankan airports. Truth and reconciliation Dissanayake visited the Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, where he received blessings and later vowed to uncover the truth surrounding the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. Responding to calls by Northern Province residents, Dissanayake ordered the reopening of the Palali-Achchuveli main road in October 2024, which was carried out by the Defence Secretary. The road which ran across the high-security zone of the Palaly Cantonment in Jaffna had been closed for over 30 years since the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Former Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran urged President Dissanayake to release all remaining military-occupied land, both residential and agrarian. Dissanayake promised on 11 November that lands occupied by the government and military would be gradually returned to their previous owners. The program began with the closing of the Paruthithurai camp on 20 November. Several military checkpoints were also either closed or transferred to the police. In 2025, he proposed that more Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans should be recruited to the Sri Lanka Police. He was also critical of Sinhalese going on pilgrimages for a certain Temple in Jaffna referening to the Tissa Vihara. National security Dissanayake has responded to the threat of terrorism that appeared in October 2024 with travel advisories raised by the United States and several other countries, by deploying the police, intelligence officers and the armed forces in Colombo, Arugam Bay, Weligama and Ella; and meeting foreign envoys. Dissanayake days after replacing the Commander of the Army, Vikum Liyanage, revealed in January 2025 that 73 Type 56 assault rifles of the army had fallen into hands of organised criminals, which has led to the arrest of several army officers and personnel. Dissanayake continued the reduction in size of the military begun by the previous governments while emphasizing the need to purchase modern equipment. According to him, by 2030, the Army will be resized to 100,000, Navy to 40,000 and Air Force to 18,000. He also noted that aircraft and ships of the military were outdated and will be replaced. He also pledged to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act with a new act that allows security threats to be addressed without curtailing civil liberties. Controversy On 22 April 2026, Maithri Gunaratne, a former Governor of Central Province, claimed that the Finance, Planning and Economic Development Ministry, under Dissanayake , as the Cabinet minister, and Harshana Suriyapperuma as the secretary to the ministry, had made a wrongful payment of US$2.5 million to a third party instead of settling part of a US$22.9 million debt repayment to Australia. He also requested the Parliament of Sri Lanka investigate the matter through a letter addressed to the Speaker. Nalinda Jayatissa, the Cabinet spokesperson, stated that a clarification would be issued by the ministry in due course. The ministry subsequently claimed that the funds had been diverted by a hacker following a breach of its systems and that the cyberattack and the resulting fraud were first identified in January 2026. Complaints were lodged with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The ministry also stated that five officials have been interdicted following an internal investigation and it would seek assistance from foreign partners to trace the funds and pursue further legal action. ==Political positions==

Dissanayake has been characterised in media as a Marxist, a neo-Marxist, and a pragmatist. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Dissanayake pledged to dissolve the then-incumbent parliament within 45 days of coming to power and seek a general mandate for his policies. He ran on a platform of anti-corruption and anti-poverty in 2024. Dhananath Fernando, CEO of the Colombo-based pro-market think tank Advocata Institute, said that Dissanayake "now advocates for a pro-trade approach, emphasising the simplification of the tariff structure, improving the business environment, reforming tax administration, ending corruption and positioning the private sector as the engine of growth. However, his stance on debt negotiations remains unclear." ==Electoral history==