evidence: Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the leftist National People’s Power (NPP), rode a popular anti-establishment vote to power in last weekend’s Sri Lankan presidential election. The election, the first to be held at any level in the country since 2020, became an outlet for popular frustration with the political system and establishment political elite after the polycrises of the past few years. The misguided tax cuts under the 2019 Gotabaya Rajapaksa government, alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, had resulted in a debt repayment crisis and severe depletion of foreign reserves, culminating in the country’s bankruptcy for the first time in its history in 2022. Dissanayake’s left populist rhetoric promised to end political corruption and deliver economic relief, which appealed to voters. Though the 2024 elections recorded a voter turnout of 75 percent, compared to 83 percent in the previous election, likely driven by high numbers of emigration and increasing political disillusionment among voters.