Sri Lanka’s new president has dissolved parliament to hold snap general elections.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved the 225-member parliament in which his leftist National People’s Power (NPP) coalition had only three seats.
The election will be held on November 14, almost a year ahead of schedule, according to a notice in the official government gazette.
The president also chose his colleague Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister on Tuesday, electing a woman for the third time in the country’s history.
Disanayake won the presidential election on Saturday.
He stated that he will dissolve the parliament soon after being elected in order to get a new mandate to pursue his goals. Earlier he said there is no need to continue with a parliament that does not match what the people want.
The last general election in Sri Lanka, where members of Parliament are elected for five years, took place in August 2020.
Dissanayake, who has gained increasing support over the years for his anti-corruption and anti-poverty policies, won the country’s first general election since its economic collapse in 2022 sparked protests and forced protests. at that time President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to escape and wipe.
It was a remarkable turnaround for a politician who won only 3% in the 2019 presidential election.
Disanayake’s immediate challenge is to renegotiate parts of a $2.9bn bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that has involved painful repressive measures.
Shortly after taking office, the new president said that he did not have a magic solution to the difficulties people were facing, but that he would seek a concerted effort to end the problem.
In Sri Lanka, the president leads the cabinet and appoints ministers from the Members of Parliament, the prime minister acts as the vice president and leads the ruling party.
Just before Dissanayake was sworn in as president on Monday, Dinesh Gunawardene resigned as prime minister.
His successor Amarasuriya is one of the three NPP members of Parliament. The former university lecturer was also given the job of minister of justice, education and labour.
The remaining interim cabinet roles were shared between the other two.
Amarasuriya campaigned alongside Disanayake in 2019, before being elected as an MP the following year.
His career as a social activist began in 2011, when he participated in protests demanding free education.
The 54-year-old has since become known for advocating for youth development, child protection and gender inequality, among other social justice issues.
His appointment as the 16th prime minister of Sri Lanka makes him the first academic to hold this position. She follows in the footsteps of only two other women – Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga – both of whom had family ties to politics. A woman has not participated since 2000.
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