The new leader's promises will be difficult to fulfill in troubled Sri Lanka

The stunning election victories of a new left-wing president and his party have changed Sri Lanka's political landscape, but the financially strapped island's new rulers are quickly realizing that campaign promises are easier to make than to keep.

By Anura Kumara Dissanayake a remarkable victory in September's presidential election was quickly followed by a landslide for his National People's Power (NPP) alliance in a parliamentary election.

As a new year begins, he and his supporters want it to be a turning point for the country, which is trying to recover from a devastating economic crisis and years of mismanagement.

However, they have limited room for maneuver to deliver on promises to voters, whose expectations from the new government are high.

After the financial crash in 2022 the economic recovery has been fragile and Sri Lanka is far from out of the woods.

The NPP won 159 seats in the 225-member assembly in November – an unprecedented two-thirds majority – giving Dissanayake a sweeping mandate to push through major economic and constitutional reforms.

However, as the results came in, the new president had to prepare for a meeting with a visiting delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with whom the outgoing government had agreed a $2.9bn (£2.31bn) bailout package. .

The IMF deal became controversial as it led to tough austerity measures, tax hikes and cuts to energy subsidies – hitting ordinary people hard.

During the campaign, Dissanayake and his alliance promised to renegotiate parts of the agreement with the IMF.

But in his address to the new parliament, he made a U-turn.

“The economy is in such a state that it cannot bear even the slightest shock… There is no room for error,” Dissanayake said.

“This is not the time to discuss whether the terms (of the IMF loan) are good or bad, whether the agreement is favorable for us or not… The process took about two years and we cannot start all over again.” “

The overwhelming voter verdict for the NPP is seen as the culmination of a popular uprising sparked by the economic crisis. The uprising ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the summer of 2022, when Sri Lanka ran out of foreign currency and had problems importing food and fuel.

Earlier, the country declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its foreign debt of about 46 billion dollars. India, China and Japan are among those that have borrowed billions of dollars.

The latest election results also reflect people's anger at established political parties – former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe and others – for failing to deal with the economic collapse.

“One of the priorities for Dissanayake will be to give some economic relief to the people due to excessive taxation and the cost of living crisis. Debt management is another big challenge,” said veteran political analyst Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda to the BBC.

So far, the sweeping political changes don't seem to have had any impact on people like Niluka Dilrukshi, a mother of four who lives in a suburb of the capital, Colombo. Her husband is a wage laborer and the family is still struggling to make ends meet.

The BBC was talking to her on the skyrocketing cost of living in January 2022, months before mass protests erupted.

At the time, she said her family ate only two meals a day instead of three, and gave only vegetables and rice to their children because of the high cost of fish and meat.

“We are still struggling to make ends meet and nothing has changed. The price of rice, the staple food, rose further. We are not getting any relief from the government,” says Ms. Dilrukshi.

People like her want the new government to take immediate steps to cut spending on essentials. Sri Lanka is an import-dependent country and needs foreign currency to import goods such as food and medicine.

So far, Colombo has been able to maintain its foreign exchange reserves as it has suspended its debt payments.

The real fight, experts say, is likely to begin in the next three to four years, when it starts paying off its debts.

People's perception of President Dissanayake and his new government may change if there is no visible change in their standard of living in the next two or three years.

“The people gave him a huge mandate. The IMF should respect this by allowing it to give some relief to people through social assistance programs,” says Prof. Uyangoda.

Dissanayake also has to contend with India and China vying for influence in Sri Lanka, where both have invested heavily in recent years.

“Both India and China will try to bring Colombo into their sphere of influence. I think that the foreign policy of the new government will be very pragmatic, without agreeing with anyone,” says Prof. Uyangoda.

In a careful diplomatic maneuver, Dissanayake chose Delhi as his first official overseas destination in mid-December. During the visit, India pledged to supply liquefied natural gas to Sri Lanka's power plants and work to connect the energy grids of the two countries in the long term.

China's increasing presence in Sri Lanka, particularly visits by Chinese “research” ships to ports on the island – so close to India's southern tip – has raised concerns in Delhi.

“I have assured the Prime Minister of India that we will not allow our land to be used in any way in a way that is detrimental to India's interests,” Dissanayake said after talks with Narendra Modi.

Delhi will no doubt be pleased by the assurance, but Dissanayake will find out what Beijing expects when he visits China in mid-January.