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Sri Lanka’s new leader dissolves parliament, calls for election to solidify mandate

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Anura Kumara Dissanayake has dissolved Sri Lanka’s parliament and called for an election on 14 November. The country’s new leader, fresh off a weekend presidential victory, hopes this election will consolidate his power.

Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved Parliament late Tuesday and called for a parliamentary election in less than two months in an effort to consolidate power after his weekend election victory.

A government notification said that Parliament was dissolved effective midnight Tuesday, and that the parliamentary election was set for Nov. 14, in an expected move that Dissanayake had vowed to take during his election campaign.

Dissanayake’s party holds only three seats in the 225-member Parliament and the snap election could help him take control of the chamber while his approval ratings remain intact following his win in Saturday’s polling.

The dissolution came hours after Dissanayake swore in a female lawmaker in his coalition as his prime minister, making her the country’s first woman to head the government in 24 years.

Harini Amarasuriya, 54, a university lecturer and activist, comes from a similar background as Dissanayake and both are members of the Marxist-leaning National People’s Power coalition, which remains in the opposition in Parliament.

His victory in Saturday’s election over ex-President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa came as Sri Lankans rejected the old political guard whom they blamed for pushing the country into an unprecedented economic crisis.

(AP)

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