VOTE FOR RADICAL CHANGE

The Aragalaya, the people's struggle that toppled the allpowerful Rajapaksa brothers from the seat of Sri Lankan political power in 2022, seemed to have disbanded after achieving its goal.

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

Sparked by economic chaos, it had non-political origins. But the antiestablishment fervour the people exhibited during that phase had evidently not dissipated. That is seen as one of the main reasons why the result of the just-concluded presidential election signalled a radical change in the country's political set-up. The beneficiary of their struggle was the Left-leaning National People's Power (NPP), whose major constituent is the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The JVP started as a militant underground movement committed to armed struggle to achieve its socialist ideals, but had joined the mainstream subsequently. It has now taken power for the first time in the country's electoral history. The NPP's firebrand leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who promises to erase political corruption and bring about a renaissance in nation-building, has been sworn in as president.

What was remarkable about the victory was that the NPP was formed only in 2019 and when Dissanayake contested the presidential election the same year, he got only three per cent of the votes. Five years later though, the bearded 56-year-old, a charismatic and articulate leader who had backed the Aragalaya movement, won 42.3 per cent of the vote in the first round of counting. His two main rivals, Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP), finished second and third, with 32.8 per cent and 17.2 per cent vote share, respectively.