Sri Lanka’s new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed Harini Amarasuriya, a member of his National People Power (NPP) coalition, as the country’s Prime Minister on Wednesday, The Independent reports.
The leftist president, known as AKD, was sworn in on Monday after winning the first presidential election held after the 2022 anti-government protests that forced then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign and flee. He called for snap parliamentary elections, dissolving parliament shortly after winning the weekend’s election.
Ms. Amarasuriya, 54, is the first woman in more than two decades and only the third woman in the history of independent Sri Lanka to serve as prime minister. She teaches sociology and is known for her activism on gender and minority rights.
The last woman PM was Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who became the world’s first female head of government when she took office in 1960. Her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga took over in 1994.
A government notification issued on Tuesday said the 225-member parliament has been dissolved since midnight and fresh elections have been scheduled for November 14, almost a year ahead of schedule.
The move is seen as an attempt by the president to consolidate power in parliament, where Mr. Dissanayake’s NPP has just three seats. Party member Namal Karunaratne told reporters:
“We will have the smallest cabinet in the history of Sri Lanka.”
Mr. Dissanayake’s lack of a majority makes it difficult for him to appoint a full cabinet and during the campaign he vowed to dissolve parliament and call snap elections. The five-year term of the current parliament ends next August.
President is trying to strengthen his grip on parliament
Despite a minority in parliament, the 2022 protests, sparked by the island’s economic crisis, paved the way for Mr. Dissanayake’s rise to power. He wrote in a post on X after securing 42 per cent of votes:
“Your commitment has brought us this far, and for that, I am deeply grateful. This victory belongs to all of us.”
Jonathan Spencer, emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh, told The Hindu:
“The task facing her is extraordinarily challenging, but she is a woman of extraordinary capacities.”
Mr. Dissanayake retained the portfolios of defence, energy and agriculture, handing the justice, education, labour, science, health and investment ministries to the prime minister.
A third coalition member, Vijitha Herath, was appointed as the new foreign minister with additional powers in the area of public security.
