Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected as Sri Lanka’s new president last month, raising hopes of a fresh start after years of economic strife and a deterioration of the country’s human rights situation.[1]

Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party (JVP) and National People’s Power coalition, Dissanayake won in a second round of voting, winning 42 percent of the vote, while his closest rival and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa got 33 percent.[2]

Dissanayake is a political outsider, popular for his leadership during the protest movement in 2022 and for building up his party into a political force. Voters were not just attracted to his strong stance on corruption and rebuilding the economy, but his promise to heal the country’s ethnic divisions and improve the human rights situation.[3]

Sri Lanka’s population of 20 million is overwhelmingly Sinhalese, with Tamils making up approximately 11 percent of the population.[4] Muslims in Sri Lanka are numbered at 2 million people, making up a far smaller minority.[5]

The treatment of minorities infamously came to a head during Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war between 1983 and 2009 where an estimated 40,000 civilians were killed and numerous atrocities committed by the Sinhalese-majority government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, otherwise known as the Tamil Tigers. The latter was eventually crushed by government forces in 2009.[6]

Tamils continue to face persecution and violence, with a strong military presence in the Tamil-dominated north leading to calls for ‘Sinhalisation’ through the seizure of Tamil lands and property and places of worship. In February 2024, former President Wickremesinghe committed to “protecting the Buddhist order” by building 11 Buddhist temples in the country’s Tamil northeast, while March saw the Minister for Cultural Affairs propose legislation to safeguard “sacred Buddhist sites”.[7] Tamils also face systematic surveillance of social, cultural and political activities by the government in Colombo and are unquestionably marginalised when it comes to participation in national political life.[8]

Muslims and Christians also face persecution and marginalisation by the government and the Sinhalese majority. Muslims, in particular, have been increasingly targeted after the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, which led to restrictive legislation against this cohort and increased cases of violence.[9] Hate speech in-person and online by Hindu and Buddhist nationalist groups has also spiked against Muslims, including Siv Senai, Rudra Sena and Ravana Sena. However, this has not occurred without consequence, with Sri Lanka’s High Court sentencing the leader of an anti-Muslim group to four years in jail for hate speech and attacks against Muslims.[10]

More recently, the country’s economic collapse and humanitarian crisis in April 2022 led to significant attacks on the country’s human rights for all Sri Lankans. Mass protests in response to the crisis led to the deaths of protesters and police, with hundreds more injured or detained. The protests culminated in the storming and occupation of the presidential palace, forcing former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.[11] There was little improvement under new president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who continued to crackdown on any dissent, leading to the arrest of 140 protesters and labelling them “terrorists” and “fascists”. Wickremesinghe’s government also rolled out restrictive anti-terror laws that were used to target not just protesters but minorities, journalists, and human rights defenders.[12]

These are the issues and tensions Dissanayake has promised to solve, but the new president faces significant challenges.

The first is his own party, which has a dark history of anti-Tamil sentiment. This has not been forgotten in Tamil communities, who overwhelmingly voted for other candidates, including main rival Premadasa and former president Wickremesinghe.[13] There is a clear level of distrust that the new president will need to overcome.

Dissanayake has also not outlined how he will find a political solution to the social and political marginalisation of Tamils and Muslims. Additionally, despite being president, Dissanayake lacks political power, with his party only holding 3 seats in parliament. While the new president has called snap elections for November, his coalition will need to win a significant number of seats to gain a mandate to make any meaningful changes and to overcome the power of the political and military establishment.[14]

But Sri Lankans have voted for a fresh start, including distancing the country from its dark past of ethnic and religious disharmony, which continues to hold it back. While challenges are significant, voters of all stripes will hope that political outsider Dissanayake can solve the country’s longest-running problem.

[1] Hannah Ellis-Peterson (23 September 2024) ‘Sri Lankan leftist candidate Dissanayake claims presidential election’, The Guardian (Accessed 8 October 2024) Sri Lankan leftist candidate Dissanayake claims presidential election | Sri Lanka | The Guardian.

[2] Electoral Commission of Sri Lanka (22 September 2024) ‘Presidential election results 2024’, Webpage (Accessed 8 October 2024) Live Sri Lanka Presidential Election Results 2024 | Real-Time Results (elections.gov.lk).

[3] Saroj Pathirana (13 September 2024) ‘Could Marxist Anura Dissanayake become Sri Lanka’s next president?’, Al Jazeera (Accessed 8 October 2024) Could Marxist Anura Dissanayake become Sri Lanka’s next president? | Politics | Al Jazeera.

[4] Krishan Francis (1 June 2024) ‘15 years on, the Tamil survivors of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war live in fear — and disempowerment’, Associated Press (Accessed 8 October 2024) https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-civil-war-tamils-edbfcf1f61128b74bb9c889ef3a62262.

[5] Minority Rights Group (2024) ‘Muslims in Sri Lanka’, Webpage (Accessed 8 October 2024) https://minorityrights.org/communities/muslims-3/.

[6] Krishan Francis (1 June 2024) ‘15 years on, the Tamil survivors of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war live in fear — and disempowerment’, Associated Press (Accessed 8 October 2024) https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-civil-war-tamils-edbfcf1f61128b74bb9c889ef3a62262.

[7] Sema Hasan (June 2024) ‘Sri Lanka’s shrinking space for religious minorities’, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (Accessed 8 October 2024) https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/2024%20Sri%20Lanka%20Country%20Update.pdf.

[8] Madura Rasaratnam and Ambihai Akilan (18 May 2024) ‘Sri Lanka’s killing fields cast a long shadow’, Al Jazeera (Accessed 8 October 2024) https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/5/18/sri-lankas-killing-fields-cast-a-long-shadow.

[9] Jumaina Siddiqui and Melissa Nozell (29 April 2021) ‘Two years after Easter Attacks, Sri Lanka’s Muslims face backlash’, United States Institute of Peace (Accessed 9 October 2024) https://www.usip.org/publications/2021/04/two-years-after-easter-attacks-sri-lankas-muslims-face-backlash#:~:text=Easter%20Sunday%20Attacks,-In%20the%20years&text=While%20the%20assailants%20belonged%20to,justify%20their%20actions%20against%20Muslims.

[10] Sema Hasan (June 2024) ‘Sri Lanka’s shrinking space for religious minorities’, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (Accessed 8 October 2024) https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/2024%20Sri%20Lanka%20Country%20Update.pdf.

[11] Tessa Wong and Matt Murphy (14 July 2022) ‘Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees the country on military jet’, BBC (Accessed 9 October 2024) Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees the country on military jet (bbc.com).

[12] Amnesty International (2022) ‘End the crackdown on peaceful protests in Sri Lanka’, Webpage (Accessed 9 October 2024) https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/end-the-crackdown-on-peaceful-protests-in-sri-lanka/.

[13] Saroj Pathirana (25 September 2024) ‘Only the beginning’: Sri Lankans hope for deep changes under new president’, Al Jazeera (Accessed 9 October 2024) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/25/only-the-beginning-sri-lankans-hope-for-deep-changes-under-new-president.

[14] Newswire (24 September 2024) ‘Sri Lanka Parliament Dissolved: New Election date announced’, Webpage (Accessed 9 October 2024) https://www.newswire.lk/2024/09/24/sri-lanka-parliament-dissolved-new-election-date-announced/.