Marxist politician Anura Dissanayake won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, defeating opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Dissanayake, leader of the National People’s Power alliance and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), has a history of political activism dating back to his school days. He was involved in two armed insurrections in the 1970s and 1980s. Entering public politics in 1993, he helped rebuild the JVP, which re-entered democratic politics in 1994. Dissanayake was elected to Parliament in 2000 and briefly served as agriculture and irrigation minister.