Colombo: Sri Lanka's new President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, named Harini Amarasuriya as the new Prime Minister of the Indian Ocean island nation on Tuesday. Dissanayake was elected president in the election held on Saturday.
A university lecturer, Amarasuriya, has also been a member of parliament since National People's Power came into power in 2020. She became the third female Prime Minister in Sri Lankan history following the world's first woman prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960, and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.
Who is Harini Amarasuriya?
As a Prime Minister, her main role will be managing multiple crucial ministries including, justice, education, industries, science and technology.
Besides her political role, she has also been associated with the Department of Social Studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka as a senior lecturer. A liberal by ideology, she has always been praised for her research on critical issues such as gender inequality, unemployment, child protection, and flaws in the country's education system.
Dissanayake ran as the candidate for the National People's Power (NPP) alliance, which includes his Janatha Vimukhti Peremuna (JVP) party that traditionally championed Marxist economic policies centred on protectionism and state intervention.
He and his new cabinet now face the task of establishing an interim government, with analysts predicting Dissanayake will dissolve parliament and call a snap general election as his party has just three of 225 seats in the current house.
Dissanayake's intentions to slash taxes and desire to revisit the terms of a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout have worried investors, who fear that it could delay a crucial $25 billion debt restructuring.
Just before Dissanayake took the oath of office on Monday, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene resigned, effectively dissolving the cabinet.
(With inputs from agency)
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