"We need to establish a new clean political culture," he said during his swearing-in speech. "I have said before that I am not a magician I am an ordinary citizen. There are things I know and don't know. My utmost objective is to gather those with the knowledge and skills to help lift this country."
Dissanayake, popularly known as AKD, leads the National People's Power (NPP) alliance, which includes his party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), or People's Liberation Front.
One of Dissanayake's first major challenges will be to ease austerity measures imposed by his predecessor under an IMF relief agreement.
Dissanayake's rise now is particularly remarkable, considering he received only 3% of the vote in the 2019 presidential election. Saturday's vote was the first since mass protests over shortages of essential goods.
Collection
[
|
...
]