evidence: "Many non-partisan people who took part in ‘Aragalaya’ [struggle in Sinhalese] are now with the National Peoples Power [NPP]," Jayasanka told Al Jazeera on Tuesday, a day after Dissanayake, who leads the NPP alliance, was sworn in as the country’s ninth president. [...] Dissanayake and his Stalinist political party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), played an active role during the 2022 protests. The controversial party led two insurrections against the Sri Lankan state in the 1970s and 1980s, during which 80,000 people were killed. The party has since renounced violence and Dissanayake has apologised for their crimes. [...] "So I feel this as a protest vote against those leaders, including the leaders of Muslim political parties, than a vote for Anura Kumara [Dissanayake]. But I don’t believe everything will be resolved overnight simply because he is now in power."