Sri Lanka’s Marxist-leaning President Appoints Cabinet After Election Win

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI

3:19 AM EST, November 18, 2024

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning president swore in a 22-member Cabinet on Monday after his party secured a two-thirds parliamentary majority in last week’s election.

The margin of victory will allow President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to make sweeping reforms, including a campaign promise of a new constitution, without needing support from other parties.

Sri Lanka is struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, having declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its external debt in 2022.

Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party won 159 of the 225 seats in Thursday’s vote.

He kept a pledge to have fewer than 25 Cabinet members, and a majority of the new ministers are first-time lawmakers. Dissanayake retained the post of defense and finance minister.

He also reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister. Amarasuriya, 54, was first appointed in September after Dissanayake won the presidential election and that made her the first woman to head the government in 24 years.

Vijitha Herath was reappointed as minister of foreign affairs and tourism.

Dissanayake was elected president on Sept. 21 in a rejection of traditional political parties that have governed the island nation since its independence from British rule in 1948.

He has promised he would propose significant changes to the targets set in the IMF bailout deal signed by his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, saying it placed too much burden on the people. However, he has since said Sri Lanka will go along with the agreement, with debt restructuring with international creditors nearly complete.

Voters were also drawn by the NPP’s cry for change in the political culture and an end to corruption, because they perceived the parties that ruled Sri Lanka so far caused the economic collapse.

Dissanayake’s promise to punish members of previous governments accused of corruption and to recover allegedly stolen assets also raised people’s hopes.