President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s speech to the nation

“The most important feature of democracy in our country is that the people elect a ruler for their governance. But democracy does not end just by voting in an election and electing a ruler. Although it is a basic feature of democracy, to strengthen the role of democracy in our country, we have to strengthen the institutions related to governance and legal framework. Therefore, I would like to inform the people of our country first of all. I am ready to confirm my maximum commitment to the democracy of this country during my tenure. Also, in our country, there is a history of democratic transfer of power in an election, no leader has ever rejected a transfer of power in an election. Accordingly, I am grateful to former President Ranil Wickramasinghe for his dedication and example for the democratic transfer of power by accepting the mandate of the people.
We know very well that we are getting a very challenging country. The politics of our country should be more clean than this. There is a need for a good political culture that the people expect intensely. We are ready to dedicate ourselves to it. The general citizens have a bad idea about the politicians and politics of our country. There is an idea that politics is not appropriate. Therefore, with our utmost commitment, we will do everything we can to ensure the public’s respect and trust towards politics and politicians. We do not believe that the most profound crisis we are facing is something that can be solved by a mere government, a mere political party, or a mere individual. As I have stated before, I am not a magician or a conjurer. I am an ordinary citizen born in this country. There are things I can do and things I cannot do. There are things I know and things I do not know. But my main task is to absorb the abilities, gather what I know, make the best decisions, and act accordingly.
Therefore, it is my responsibility to become a participant in that collective intervention. For that, I become a part of the collective intervention. The general public and people from all walks of life are responsible for ending this crisis. I expect everyone’s support to fulfil that responsibility. But I understand that as the president of the country, I have the foremost and most important responsibility of leading this work. As such, I am ready to convince the citizens and the society of this country that I will fulfill the work assigned to me to overcome this challenge.
Also, our country needs international support. We maintain our foreign policy in a way that is most advantageous to us, regardless of the division of powers in the world. What we want is not an isolated state in the world but a state that must move forward collectively and jointly with the world. We do not hesitate to make the necessary decisions for that. Industrialists and entrepreneurs have a significant role to play in building our country. We hope that they will support and help the government’s process to develop our country stronger.
Finally, I would like to say that I have been elected as the president of our country through a democratic process. The people have voted for me. There are also a number of votes that were not given to me. As such, we do have an excellent understanding of the composition and size of the victory. Therefore, we are confident that I can successfully carry out the role assigned during my administration to gain the support and trust of those who did not vote for us and do not believe in us. All this will be experienced practically in the future. I expect everyone’s support for it.”