Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka’s freshly elected president, has named Harini Amarasuriya, a college professor and first-time legislator, as the country’s prime minister. Amarasuriya, 54, earned a degree in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh and was elected to parliament in 2020 as part of Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Coalition.
Selects Harini Amarasuriya, Sri Lanka’s third woman prime minister, succeeding Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.
Dissanayake, a Marxist politician, was elected president on Saturday. He now faces the problem of assembling an interim administration, with some observers expecting he would dissolve parliament and call a swift general election. His party, Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP), has only three seats in the 225-member parliament.
As the new prime minister, Amarasuriya will be in charge of several crucial portfolios, including foreign affairs, education, and media. Investors are concerned about Dissanayake’s proposals to decrease taxes and renegotiate the terms of a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, which might cause delays in a vital $25 billion debt restructuring.
Former Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene resigned on Monday, thus dissolving the previous cabinet shortly before Dissanayake took office.
