Sri Lanka’s new leftist president Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved parliament on Tuesday and called a snap election as he prepares to renegotiate the bankrupt nation’s unpopular International Monetary Fund bailout programme.
Late Tuesday he dismissed the 225-member legislature in which his once-marginal party had just three seats. According to a notice in the official government gazette, he scheduled an early election for November 14, nearly a year ahead of schedule.
The order to dissolve parliament — whose term was due to end in August — comes into immediate effect.
Despite being a marginal party, the support for the 55-year-old Dissanayake’s JVP surged after a 2022 economic meltdown that immiserated millions of ordinary Sri Lankans and the painful implementation of the IMF rescue plan.
Earlier Tuesday his office announced the appointment of lawmaker Harini Amarasuriya, 54, as premier with the additional portfolios of justice, education, health, women’s affairs and labour.
A fellow party MP, Vijitha Herath, was made the new foreign minister with additional responsibilities over public security. Dissanayake retained the defence, energy and agricultural portfolios.
Self-avowed Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the People’s Liberation Front (JVP) was sworn into office on Monday after a landslide win in weekend presidential polls.
