This graphic depicts division-level votes from data provided by the Election Commission. Source: Manthri.lk
It is unclear what the unexpected victory of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the National People’s Power (NPP), will bring. Tea workers and pensioners are celebrating the revolution as traditional tea business executives withhold judgment.
STiR spoke or exchanged correspondence with a half dozen tea executives who cautioned a wait-and-see stance.
“It will be very difficult to sustain momentum. NPP holds only three seats in Parliament and must pass 60+ bills (mainly austerity measures) to meet the International Monetary Fund (IMF) commitments. The majority of supporters will demand more relief and freebies,” said one executive.
Dissanayake quickly dissolved the 16th Parliament and urged candidates to prioritize capable and trustworthy representatives in the upcoming general election on Nov. 14. “We must build a Parliament that reflects our commitment to the people,” he said.
“We have a unique opportunity to demonstrate our approach to other political factions and our commitment to a new society,” he said
Workers spoke with their ballots, which show strong support for Dissanayake in tea-growing regions. One of his first acts was to instruct the Finance Ministry restore a Rs 3000 monthly allowance for all pensioners.
Dissanayake was elected by a vote of 5,634,915 of 13,318,616 ballots cast. He received 394,534 (42%) votes to finish first in the Mahiyangane District, where Kandy is located. The district has 625 estates, the country’s largest concentration of tea gardens. Turnout was 73% in Badulla District, home to 130 tea gardens. Dissanayake received 197,283 (35%) votes in the Badulla District and 105,057 (22%) in the Nuwara Eliya electoral district, finishing second to Premadasa in both districts.
Dissanayake, 55, received 43% of the preferential contest vote that eliminated sitting president Ranil Wickremesinghe in the first round. Thirty-eight candidates ran for president, but only four received more than 1% of the vote.
As head of the Marxist Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) party, Dissanayake “spearheaded an armed revolt against the Sri Lankan government which claimed thousands of lives,” reports the BBC.
During the campaign, he said, “Politicians who promised to stop corruption have engaged in corruption; those who promised to create a debt-free Sri Lanka have only worsened the debt burden; people who promised to strengthen the law have broken it. This is exactly why the people of this country want different leadership. We are the ones who can provide it.”
Veteran Tea Trader Named Tea Board Chair
Dissanayake has not commented publicly on tea policy, but one of the first tea industry appointments is Rajpal Obeyesekere, a veteran trader and exporter who previously chaired the government’s Foreign Employment Bureau.
Obeyesekere, 72, will chair the Sri Lanka Tea Board, replacing Niraj de Mel, who has chaired the tea board since June 2022. The new chair began his career as a taster under Harry Jayawardena at the government-owned Consolidated Tea export company commonly referred to as Consol Tea.
Ministry of Plantations Industries Director General M.S. Anuruddha announced the appointment on Oct. 8.
In 1977, Obeyesekere was one of three founders of the Stassen Group, a tea exporter and FMCG importer. During the 1980s and 1990s, Stassen acquired several ventures, including Distilleries Corp., Lakan Milk Foods, Browns Group, and Hatton National Bank, and invested in several financial institutions.
In 2015, Obeyesekere was appointed Chairman of the Foreign Employment Bureau, leaving that post in 2019.
The Sri Lanka Tea Board, founded in 1976, is a regulatory authority that oversees tea quality and provides marketing, branding, and global promotion of Ceylon tea.
Obeyesekere leads a board that faces several challenges, including declining tea yields due to aging stock and unpredictable weather conditions, high production costs compounded by labor shortages, and global competition in India, China, and Africa for Orthodox black tea exports.