Anura Kumara Dissanayaka


Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayaka is a Sri Lankan politician, current Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He served for a time as Cabinet Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation. Dissanayake was named the leader of JVP at the 7th national convention of the party, held on 2 February 2014. He was in the Parliament from September 2015 to December 2018. He is also known for his support towards LGBTIQ community in the country.

Career

He was the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation in the 2004 SLFP, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna joint government under President Chandrika Kumaratunge.

2019 Presidential Election

On 18 August 2019, the National People's Power Movement announced that Dissanayake would be its 2019 Presidential Candidate.
In November 2019, Anura Kumara Dissanayake published a manifesto ahead of the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election which also includes the decriminalising the LGBT rights in Sri Lanka. This is the first instance in the history of Sri Lankan elections where a candidate has pledged to decriminalise LGBT in the country.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake managed to obtain only 3.16% of the total votes at the presidential election held on 17 November 2019 which is the lowest percentage by any JVP presidential candidate in the election history.