Former academic Harini Amarasuriya becomes Sri Lanka's third woman PM; president keeps finance

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's new prez, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, named college professor and first-time lawmaker Harini Amarasuriya as the new PM of the Indian Ocean island nation on Tuesday, making her the third woman to be appointed to the post.

Dissanayake, 55, has taken the key finance portfolio himself as Sri Lanka looks to emerge from its most punishing economic crisis in 70 years and its first debt default, while keeping promises to aid the nation's poor. The Marxist-leaning firebrand politician will also hold the economic development and tourism jobs in the cabinet. Dissanayake's intentions to slash taxes and desire to revisit the terms of a $2.9 billion IMF bailout have worried investors, who fear it could delay a crucial $25 billion debt restructuring.

His comments during Monday's inauguration offered few clues as to how hardline his economic approach will be. "Our politics needs to be cleaner...," he said. "I am ready to commit to that change."

He picked veteran legislator Vijitha Herath to helm foreign affairs and public security, among other portfolios, according to the president's office.

While Herath, 56, has been a parliamentarian since 2000, Amarasuriya, 54, only entered the legislature in 2020. An academic with a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, Amarasuriya, will also hold the portfolios of education, media and women and children affairs. She is the third woman PM of Sri Lanka, following the world's first woman PM, Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960, and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994.

Prez calls snap parliamentary polls on Nov 14
Sri Lanka’s newly elected Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake has dissolved parliament to clear the way for asnap general election, he said in a govt gazette notification on Tuesday. The parliamentary election will be held on Nov 14, the notification said, adding that the next parliament would convene on Nov 21. The last general election in Sri Lanka was held in Aug 2020. Lawmakers are elected for a five-year term. Sri Lankans chose Dissanayake in a weekend presidential election. But his coalition, the National People’s Party, has just three of 225 seats in the current parliament, prompting him to dissolve the legislature to seek a fresh mandate there for his policies. Saturday’s presidential vote was Sri Lanka’s first election since its economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage