Photos: Sri Lanka swears in leftist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka as President

Sri Lanka's first leftist president was sworn into office Monday vowing to restore public faith in politics after anger over the island nation's unprecedented economic crisis propelled him to a landslide poll win.

Self-avowed Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayaka of the People's Liberation Front (JVP) took his oath at the colonial-era Presidential Secretariat in Colombo after trouncing his nearest rivals in Saturday's vote.

The previously fringe politician whose party led two failed uprisings that left tens of thousands dead saw a surge of support after the country's 2022 economic meltdown forced painful hardships on ordinary Sri Lankans.

Supporters of Sri Lanka's newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, celebrate near the Presidential Secretariat after Dissanayaka's swearing-in ceremony in Colombo on September 23, 2024.

Dissanayaka, 55, was sworn in by the chief justice in a ceremony attended by lawmakers, members of the Buddhist clergy and the military who sang the national anthem after the ceremony.

"I will do my best to fully restore the people's confidence in politicians," Dissanayaka said after taking the oath. "I am not a conjurer, I am not a magician," he added. "There are things I know and things I don't know, but I will seek the best advice and do my best. For that, I need the support of everyone."

Dissanayaka succeeds outgoing president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office at the peak of the financial crisis following the government's first-ever foreign debt default and months of punishing food, fuel and medicine shortages. Above, a supporter holds a poster of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka's president-elect, during the announcement of the presidential election results in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.

Supporters of Sri Lanka's newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, celebrate near the Presidential Secretariat after Dissanayaka's swearing-in ceremony in Colombo on September 23, 2024.

A supporter (C) of National People's Power (NPP) presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, holds a newspaper with his portrait during a rally ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in Colombo. Dissanayaka's party led two rebellions in the 1970s and 1980s that left more than 80,000 people dead before renouncing violence. It had been a peripheral player in Sri Lankan politics in the decades since, winning less than four percent of the vote during the most recent parliamentary elections in 2020.

Sri Lanka's president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayaka (C), gestures as he leaves the Election Commission office in Colombo on September 22, 2024, following his victory in the country's presidential election.