New Delhi: Sri Lanka President Anura Dissanayake dissolved parliament on Tuesday (September 24) and scheduled general elections in the country for November 14.
The country’s new parliament will meet on November 21, Dissanayake, who was announced as Sri Lanka’s new president on Sunday, said in an executive order on Tuesday night.
The five-year term of Sri Lanka’s unicameral parliament was set to lapse in August 2025, but Dissanayake had promised during his presidential election campaign to dissolve it immediately were he to come to power.
His National People’s Power (NPP) coalition has three seats in the 255-member legislative body, all of which are occupied by MPs from his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party.
Among these three JVP MPs is Harini Amarasuriya, who was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s prime minister earlier on Tuesday, and Vijitha Herath, who was also sworn in as cabinet minister.
Dissanayake, Amarasuriya and Herath will serve as caretaker ministers while parliament remains dissolved.
Despite being one of just three NPP MPs, Marxist-leaning Dissanayake became president after winning 42.31% of votes cast on Saturday in an election that was dominated by concerns around the island country’s economy.
In his campaign, Dissanayake also promised to negotiate the terms of the International Monetary Fund’s bailout deal with the country – which include unpopular austerity measures – and presented himself as an alternative to the country’s “corrupt” political class.
The bailout deal was necessitated after Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt.
Parliament will stand dissolved as of midnight and candidates for the next election can file nominations between October 4 and October 11, Tuesday’s executive order said.
While Dissanayake’s goal is probably to capitalise on his presidential victory, Sri Lanka-based analyst Omar Rajarathnam said to The Wire on Monday that Dissanayake and his NPP seemed unlikely to win a majority in the event of general elections in the immediate future.
“It is doubtful that he or his party will be able to muster enough viable candidates in such a short time, which means they probably will end up being in a minority government,” he said.
