Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's leftist coalition has won a thumping victory in a snap general election, gaining power to push through his plans to fight poverty and graft in the island nation recovering from a financial meltdown.
The sweeping mandate, which included surprise backing from the north and east of the country which is home to the minority Tamil people, is an unprecedented vote for change and indicates that Sri Lanka is in sync on moving ahead, analysts said.
While the strong showing would strengthen political stability in the South Asian country, some uncertainty on policy direction remains due to Dissanayake's promises to try to tweak terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue program that bailed the country out of its economic crisis, they said.
Dissanayake, a political outsider in a country dominated by family parties for decades, comfortably won the island's presidential election in September.
But his coalition had just three seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve it and seek a fresh mandate in Thursday's snap election.
Sri Lanka typically backs the president's party in general elections, especially if voting is held soon after a presidential vote.
Dissanayake's Marxist-leaning National People's Power (NPP) coalition won 159 seats in the 225-member parliament, the election commission said on Friday, a massive two-thirds majority and one of the biggest in the country's history.
NPP secured almost 62 per cent or almost seven million votes, up from the 42 per cent Dissanayake won in September, indicating that he had drawn more widespread support including from minorities.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party of the Rajapaksa family, whose cohort of brothers gave Sri Lanka two presidents during a dozen years in power and had 145 seats in the outgoing legislature, was virtually wiped out, winning just three seats.
"We see this as a critical turning point for Sri Lanka. We expect a mandate to form a strong parliament, and we are confident the people will give us this mandate," Dissanayake said after casting his vote on Thursday.
"There is a change in Sri Lanka's political culture that started in September, which must continue."
Celebrations were largely muted, with the exception of a few NPP loyalists who lit fireworks on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya party of opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, the main challenger to Dissanayake's coalition, won 40 seats and the New Democratic Front, backed by previous President Ranil Wickremesinghe, won just five seats.
The president wields executive power but Dissanayake still required a parliamentary majority to appoint a cabinet and deliver on key promises to cut taxes, support local businesses, and fight poverty.
The two-thirds majority also gives Dissanayake the power to begin the process of abolishing the executive presidency, although analysts say that is not a pressing concern and is unlikely to be a priority.
While he was in opposition, Dissanayake argued against the massive powers of the executive presidency and its links to abuse of power.
A nation of 22 million, Sri Lanka was crushed by a 2022 economic crisis triggered by a severe shortage of foreign currency that pushed it into a sovereign default and caused its economy to shrink by 7.3 per cent in 2022 and 2.3 per cent in 2023.
Boosted by a $US2.9 billion bailout program from the IMF, the economy has begun a tentative recovery, but the high cost of living is still a critical issue for many, especially the poor.
Dissanayake also aims to tweak targets set by the IMF to rein in income tax and free up funds to invest in welfare for the millions hit hardest by the crisis.
But investors worry his desire to revisit the terms of the IMF bailout could delay future disbursements, making it harder for Sri Lanka to hit a key primary surplus target of 2.3 per cent of gross domestic product in 2025 as set by the IMF.
