Anura Kumar Dissanayake sworn in as Sri Lankan president
Colombo (PTI): Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka's ninth president on Monday, amid hopes that he will bolster the country's economy and eliminate corruption.
Dissanayake, 56, was sworn in by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at the Presidential Secretariat.
Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party's broader front National People’s Power (NPP), defeated his closest rival Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in Saturday's election.
The election was the first to be held since mass protests unseated Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 after the country suffered an economic crisis.
In his inaugural address to the nation, Dissanayake thanked outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe for respecting the people’s mandate and facilitating a peaceful transfer of power.
His swearing-in comes hours after Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena resigned from his post as part of a power transition in the country following the presidential election.
The country's Election Commission had to order an unprecedented second round of counting on Sunday after no candidate secured over 50 per cent votes needed to be declared the winner of Saturday's election.
Dissanayake won the election obtaining 5.74 million votes, with 105,264 preferences. Premadasa got 4.53 million votes with 167,867 preferences.
Dissanayake's anti-corruption message and his promise of a change in political culture resonated strongly with young voters who had been demanding system change since the economic crisis.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
