Sri Lanka’s new president has dissolved parliament to pave the way for a snap general election.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved the 225-member parliament, in which his left-leaning National People’s Power (NPP) coalition had just three seats.
According to an announcement in the government’s official gazette, the election will take place on November 14, nearly a year earlier than expected.
The president also picked his ally Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister on Tuesday, the third time in the country’s history he has chosen a woman.
Dissanayake won the country’s presidential election at the weekend.
He has hinted that he will dissolve parliament immediately after being elected because “there is no reason to continue a parliament that is not in line with the wishes of the people”.
The politician, who has gained increasing popularity in recent years for his anti-corruption and anti-poverty policies, won the country’s first election since the economic collapse in 2022 at the weekend.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a politician who won just 3% of the vote in the 2019 presidential election.
New Prime Minister Amarasuriya is another NPP member. The former university lecturer was also given ministerial responsibilities for justice, education and labor.
The remaining interim cabinet roles are shared equally between the party’s two other parliamentarians.
Amarasuriya campaigned alongside Dissanayake in 2019 before being elected as a member of parliament the following year.
Her social activism career began in 2011, when she participated in protests demanding free education.
Since then, the 54-year-old has become known for her advocacy for youth development, child protection and gender inequality, among other social justice issues.
Her appointment as Sri Lanka’s 16th prime minister makes her the first academic to hold the office. She follows in the footsteps of only two other women – Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga – both of whom had family ties to politics. No woman has held the post since 2000.
