Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of Sri Lanka’s main Marxist party. File. | Photo credit: AFP
Sri Lanka’s main Marxist leader and a leading presidential candidate in next month’s elections vowed on Monday (Aug 26) to welcome select foreign investors, especially in the green energy sector, if he wins.
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, a 55-year-old former agriculture minister and outspoken campaigner against corruption, is popular among voters fed up with widespread corruption they blame for the island’s 2022 economic crisis.
The September 21 vote will be the first since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted by protesters angry over an unprecedented financial crisis.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was re-elected by parliament after the incumbent was ousted, is seeking a mandate to continue a $2.9 billion IMF bailout loan to stabilise the economy.
But Dissanayaka has promised to renegotiate that agreement – though he has not outlined any specific changes beyond a massive tax cut.
“We will invite foreign companies to sectors such as renewable energy, where we do not have the capacity to invest large amounts of capital,” Dissanayaka said while launching his manifesto.
There are 39 candidates in the fray, but next month’s contest is expected to be mainly between Dissanayaka, Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.
Both Mr. Wickremesinghe and Mr. Premadasa are ideologically aligned.
Mr Dissanayaka contested the 2019 presidential election but came third with just 3% of the vote.
He leads the People’s Liberation Front (JVP), the main component of the National People’s Power alliance, which has three seats in the 225-member Parliament.
But his call for tax cuts has received support from many people.
The JVP led two unsuccessful armed uprisings in 1971 and 1987, killing about 80,000 people, and the party has since renounced violence.
Mr Dissanayaka is pledging to end Sri Lanka’s presidential system and return the country to a British-style parliamentary democracy, which existed until 1978.
However, almost all Sri Lankan leaders over the past three decades have promised to end the powerful presidency but failed to do so.