COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's new president appointed his cabinet on Tuesday ahead of an expected snap parliamentary election as he prepares to renegotiate the bankrupt island nation's International Monetary Fund bailout programme.
Dissanayake of the People's Liberation Front (JVP) was sworn into office on Monday after a landslide win in weekend presidential polls. His once-marginal party currently has just three lawmakers in Sri Lanka's 225-member parliament. But support for the 55-year-old surged after a 2022 economic meltdown that immiserated millions of ordinary Sri Lankans and the painful implementation of the IMF rescue plan.
On Tuesday, his office announced the appointment of lawmaker Harini Amarasuriya, 54, as premier with the additional portfolios of justice, education, health and labour.
The sociology lecturer, who was first elected to parliament four years ago, is known for her activism on gender equality and minority rights issues.
She and the remaining two JVP-aligned lawmakers will share all ministerial responsibilities between them, and also act as caretaker ministers after parliament is dissolved.
"We will have the smallest cabinet in the history of Sri Lanka," party member Namal Karunaratne told reporters on Tuesday. "Parliament dissolution will happen thereafter."
Sri Lanka's crisis proved an opportunity for Dissanayake, who saw his popularity rise after pledging to change the island's "corrupt" political culture. He beat 38 other candidates to win Saturday's presidential vote, taking more than 1.2 million more votes than his nearest rival. His predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had imposed steep tax hikes and other unpopular austerity measures under the terms of the $2.9 billion IMF bailout, came a distant third.
The IMF offered its congratulations to Dissanayake on Monday, saying it was ready to discuss the future of the rescue plan. "We look forward to working together with President Dissanayake... towards building on the hard-won gains that have helped put Sri Lanka on a path to economic recovery," a spokesman from the lender of last resort said. A senior aide of the new president said on the weekend that Dissayanake's party would not repudiate the IMF deal. — AFP
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