Back Anura Kumara Dissanayake Afrikaans أنورا كومارا ديساناياكي Arabic انورا كومارا ديساناياكا ARZ Anura Kumara Dissanayake Azerbaijani Анура Кумара Дысанаяке Byelorussian অনুর কুমার দিশানায়কে Bengali/Bangla Anura Kumara Dissanayake Catalan Anura Kumara Dissanayake German Ανούρα Κουμάρα Greek Anura Kumara Dissanayake Esperanto
Anura Kumara Dissanayake | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක அநுர குமார திசாநாயக்க | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Dissanayake in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10th President of Sri Lanka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 23 September 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Harini Amarasuriya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ranil Wickremesinghe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake 24 November 1968 Dewahuwa, Ceylon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | National People's Power | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Mallika Dissanayake | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | 462/20, Pannipitiya Road, Pelawatte, Battaramulla | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Kelaniya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Politician | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profession | Student union leader | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Sri Lanka |
|---|
 |
|
|
Anura Kumara Dissanayake[b] (born 24 November 1968), commonly referred to by his initials AKD, is a Sri Lankan politician who has been the tenth and current president of Sri Lanka since 2024.[1][2][3][4] Dissanayake is the first Sri Lankan president to be elected in a second round of vote counting,[5][6] and the first elected president not from Sri Lanka's traditional political parties.[7]
Born on 24 November 1968 in the village of Galewela in the Central Province of Sri Lanka, Dissanayake moved with his family to the village of Thambuththegama in the North Central Province in 1972.[8] While he was a student at the University of Peradeniya, he joined the Socialist Students Union, the student wing of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as a student when the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed in 1987[9] and engaged in clandestine revolutionary activity until he was forced to go underground due to threats posed by the counterinsurgency operations undertaken by the government. A year later, he transferred to the University of Kelaniya. After he was awarded his bachelor's degree in science at the University of Kelaniya in 1995, he was elected the national organiser of the Socialist Students Union in 1997.[10]
Dissanayake was selected to the Central Committee of the JVP in 1997.[11] He was then appointed to the JVP Political Bureau in 1998[12] and entered parliament from the national list in 2000. He was elected to parliament in 2004 from the Kurunegala District with the highest number of preferential votes and served as minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation from 2004 to 2005. In 2008, he was appointed the leader of the JVP in parliament. He entered again Parliament through the national list in 2010. In 2014, he became the leader of the JVP[13] and was elected to Parliament from the Colombo District in 2015. He served as Chief Opposition Whip from 2015 to 2018 and was selected as the most active Member of Parliament continuously for five years in a row. In 2019, he became the founding leader of the National People's Power (NPP).[14]
Dissanayake ran for president in the 2019 presidential election and came in third place with 3% of the vote. He ran again in 2024 and was elected as President of Sri Lanka on 22 September 2024, becoming the first president to be elected from a third party.[15]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Mallawarachi, Bharatha. "Who is Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka's new Marxist president?". AP News. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ^ "Anura Kumara Dissanayake: who is Sri Lanka's new leftist president?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ^ "How Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake won Sri Lanka's Presidency, erasing a violent past, balancing class struggle and pragmatism". The Indian Express. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ^ "Sri Lanka elects Marxist-leaning Dissanayake as president to fix economy". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (22 September 2024). "Sri Lankan leftist candidate Dissanayake claims presidential election". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
- ^ Francis, Krishan; Mallawarachi, Bharatha. "Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake sworn in as Sri Lanka's president". AP News. Archived from the original on 6 October 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ^ Srinivasan, Meera (28 September 2024). "Who is Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the new President of Sri Lanka?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 3 October 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
- ^ David, Anthony (19 September 2024). "New President's mother recalls humble beginnings of her son". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 29 September 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
- ^ "THE HOPE OF THE NATION – ANURA – A step to Victory" (PDF). p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 July 2024. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
- ^ "Anura Kumara Dissanayake: From Humble Beginnings to The Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka". Lanka Sara. 26 September 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Anura Kumara Dissanayake President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka". United Nations. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
- ^ "Anura Kumara Dissanayake is new JVP leader". Daily Mirror. 2 February 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "National People's Power launched – Caption Story | Daily Mirror". Daily Mirror. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
- ^ Kuruwita, Rathindra (23 September 2024). "President Anura Kumara Dissanayake: A New Era of Reform Amid Economic Turmoil in Sri Lanka". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.