Dissanayake, a member of the majority Sinhalese community, was an active JVP student leader during the second insurrection, which was also coupled with a violent anti-India campaign.
He has described how one of his teachers sheltered him for over a month to save him from government-backed death squads that killed JVP activists, setting fire to their bodies in public using car tyres.
A large number of people disappeared, and unofficial estimates place the death toll from the second JVP armed struggle at about 60,000.
Some are still unaccounted for.
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Since his rise to popularity, he has softened some policies, saying he believes in an open economy and is not totally opposed to privatisation.
“There is a smear campaign against us, saying we will nationalise everything, even cows,” Dissanayake said at a campaign rally.
“We will certainly help farmers to improve, to have their own dairies,” he said. “We will not take over cows.”
His manifesto vows to improve loss-making state enterprises without selling them off.
