The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won a two-thirds majority in parliament, according to official election results Friday, providing a strong mandate for his program for economic revival.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake thanked voters Friday for delivering his leftist coalition a landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections that repudiated establishment parties blamed for triggering an economic crisis.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake was born on November 24, 1968, in Thambuththegama, Sri Lanka, into a working-class family. His father was a labourer, and his mother a housewife. Mr Dissanayake was involved in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party during his school years and was the first student from the college chosen for admission into the university.