MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Colombo (Agenzia Fides) — Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the new president of Sri Lanka, as announced yesterday by the Electoral Commission, after the vote on Saturday 21 September. A left-wing MP, Dissanayake received – as announced by the Electoral Commission – over 5.7 million votes, followed by candidate Sajith Premadasa with 4.5 million. During the election campaign, Dissanayake aimed to gain the favor of the working class and found polarization among young people and in the middle-lower social classes, while Sri Lanka is trying to recover after an economic and political crisis that brought the country to its knees and exacerbated widespread poverty. Two years ago, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans rebelled and forced the then President Rajapaksa to flee the country, “and since then there has been a great desire for change in society: this is the result, which I would not hesitate to define as historic”, comments Fr. Basil Rohan Fernando, a priest of the Archdiocese of Colombo and National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies on the island. Fr. Fernando notes “a positive atmosphere in society: first of all, it should be noted that the electoral process was peaceful and transparent and then, in the aftermath of the vote, there were no clashes between opposing factions, as has often happened in the past”. Furthermore, he notes, “there is an atmosphere of great hope in society. The population wanted something new, they strongly wanted a change and so it was, the will of the people was expressed democratically”. If the international press calls Dissanayake “the “Marxist” president, Fr. Fernando notes: “The label should not cause alarm and is related to ideological positions of the past. The new president is well inserted in the democratic framework and his declared objective is to work for the poor and vulnerable, which is what the nation needs. It is believed that within a month the president will also call general elections for the renewal of Parliament and this will allow the nation to be given a totally new face, with the entry into active politics of educated and qualified young people, which will be a clear break with the old establishment, involved in corruption games”. On the Catholic community – about 1.5 million faithful out of 22 million inhabitants – the priest notes that in the “coastal belt, which includes Colombo, Chilaw and other places where most of the Sri Lankan Catholic population lives, support for Dassyake has been very high. This shows that there has also been consensus among the Catholic population. Generally I see the faithful satisfied and hopeful. The population expects a lot from the new president, “In particular, the Catholic Church does not forget the sensitive topic of the Easter attacks of 2019: “The hope is that even on that front, a serious episode of now five years ago, a wound in national history, we can sincerely and truly promote the justice that is still missing, with the recognition of those responsible and help to the victims”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 23/9/2024) Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.