Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Marxist candidate Anura Kumara Desanyake has won the Sri Lankan presidency, riding a wave
00:07of public fury as the nation hopes to recover from the most serious economic crisis in its
00:12history.
00:14As people were voting on Saturday, Desanyake was already predicting an upset.
00:19ANURA KUMARA DESANYAKE, Marxist Candidate People are voting enthusiastically.
00:24After the victory, I urge everyone to remain peaceful.
00:28A sign of democracy is that everyone has the right to advocate for any political party
00:33and the right to vote for anyone.
00:35We should protect that right.
00:38After the victory, there should be no clashes, no violence.
00:42Our country needs a new political culture.
00:47It's a remarkable turnaround for his half-century-old leftist National People's Power Party, which
00:53had long been on the margins.
00:56In the 2019 presidential election, he secured only 3 percent of the vote.
01:02Desanyake has pledged to ease the country's drastic austerity measures to abate a massive
01:07rise in poverty.
01:09Poverty now affects a quarter of the population.
01:13The current government increased income taxes and cut public spending, in exchange for 2.6
01:19billion euros in aid from the International Monetary Fund.
01:23Desanyake has promised to renegotiate the deal.