Can Dissanayake chart a new economic path for Sri Lanka or will he stay bound by the IMF program?

The National People’s Power (NPP), the ruling alliance led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has secured a historic mandate in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections. By winning 159 seats in the 225-member Parliament, it has secured two-thirds majority, a feat never achieved before in Sri Lanka’s proportionate representation system.

This victory, coming two months after his election as President, leaves Dissanayake supremely well-placed to fulfil the expectations of a people exhausted by economic travails. But then, he will also be under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stick with the program of permanent austerity. Can he navigate these contradictory pulls on his government? If so, how? And will he use his two-thirds majority to establish a new political culture, say, by abolishing the executive presidency?

Guest: Dr Ahilan Kadirgamar from the University of Jaffna.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.

Edited by Sharmada venkatasubramanian.