Sri Lanka’s new president calls for parliamentary polls for November

Colombo, Sri Lanka: In an attempt to solidify his position of power following his election triumph over the weekend, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the newly elected president of Sri Lanka, dissolved parliament late on Tuesday and called for a parliamentary election in less than two months.

As promised by Dissanayake throughout his campaign, the government announced that Parliament was dissolved with effect from Tuesday at midnight and that the parliamentary election would be held on November 14.

With just three seats in the 225-member Parliament held by his party, Dissanayake could be able to seize control of the chamber with the help of the early election provided his popularity stays high after his victory in the polls on Saturday.

The dissolution occurred just hours after Dissanayake appointed a female member of his coalition as prime minister, making her the first female head of state in 24 years.

Similar to Dissanayake, Harini Amarasuriya, 54, is an activist and university lecturer who belongs to the Marxist-leaning National People's Power alliance that is still in opposition in Parliament.

His triumph over opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and former president Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday came as Sri Lankans rejected the old political guard whom they held responsible for plunging the nation into an unprecedented economic disaster, AP reported.

The last woman to serve as prime minister, the second most powerful position after the president, was Sirimavo Bandaranaike. She was also the first female head of state in history when she assumed the position in 1960 and held it for three terms until 2000.

Dissanayake had pledged during the campaign to dissolve Parliament and hold a snap election, but his lack of a majority makes it difficult for him to name a fully functional Cabinet. Next August marks the end of the current Parliament's five-year mandate.

Amarasuriya also took over four additional ministries that handle trade, industry, women, health, and justice. Vijitha Herath, a different lawmaker from Dissanayake's party, was named minister in charge of six departments, including public security, foreign affairs, transportation, environment, ports, and civil aviation.

Acting on his campaign pledge to lift the harsh austerity measures put in place by his predecessor Wickremesinghe under a relief arrangement with the International Monetary Fund following Sri Lanka's debt default will be Dissanayake's first major challenge.

The distribution of a fourth tranche of about $3 billion could be delayed, according to Wickremesinghe's warnings, if any changes are made to the fundamentals of the bailout agreement.

Sri Lanka's problem was mostly brought on by extreme economic mismanagement and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, along with the country's terrorist attacks in 2019, devastated its significant tourism sector.