The dramatic increase in the vote for the JVP/NPP is a product of two inter-related processes—the seething hostility and anger of broad layers of the population over the social crisis; and support for the JVP/NPP in sections of the ruling class as the means for suppressing that opposition.

Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s president on Monday after an election that saw voters reject an old guard accused of leading the country into economic crisis.

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