Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake Sri Lanka's new president, makes call for unity

ANKARA

After being elected Sri Lanka's new president, Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake made a call for unity on Sunday across the country's various communities.

Running for the National People's Power party, Dissanayake secured 55.89% of the vote in the runoff election held Saturday as no candidate could secure the 50% required for an outright victory in the first round, according to official results released Sunday.

Declaring his victory, Dissanayake, 55, called for unity of all Sri Lankans, including Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims, adding that a "new renaissance will rise from this shared strength and vision."

"The dream we have nurtured for centuries is finally coming true. This achievement is not the result of any single person's work, but the collective effort of hundreds of thousands of you. Your commitment has brought us this far, and for that, I am deeply grateful. This victory belongs to all of us," he said in a post on X.

Dissanayake is expected to take the oath of office as ninth executive president of the island country on Monday.