-Voters can vote today between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at their respective polling locations throughout the county.

-Voters are required to provide valid identity documents such as an ID card, passport or driver’s license for election authorities to view.

By Huzefa Aliasger

Sri Lankans will vote today to elect members of the country’s tenth Parliament, the first to be formed since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office. The last legislative elections took place in August 2020, when the country was hit by the pandemic.

During this election, 196 deputies will be directly elected and the remaining 29 will be named on the national list.

Voters can vote today between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at their respective polling locations throughout the county.

According to the Electoral Commission, 5,464 candidates represent registered political parties and 3,357 candidates represent independent groups, making a total of 8,821 candidates for this election. The highest number of 19 members will be elected from Gampaha district and the lowest number of four members from Trincomalee district.

The main candidates include former opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya. None of the Rajapaksa brothers who have dominated Sri Lankan politics over the past two decades are running this time.

The Election Commission asks voters to leave the polling station premises without crowding nearby after voting. The total number of polling stations is 13,314. Each voter has the right to mark three preferences.

Voters are required to provide valid identity documents such as an ID card, passport or driver’s license for election authorities to view. The inventory of ballot boxes includes 1,634,887 ballot boxes of different sizes and more than 17 million voters will vote to elect 225 deputies based on proportional representation. Gampaha district has the largest share of voters, with around 1.9 million registered.

Electoral Commission Chairman RMAL Rathnayake said using phones, taking photos, recording videos, smoking, drinking alcohol or entering centers under the The influence of alcohol or intoxicants are considered illegal and punishable offenses and voters should be cautious about these offenses. .

The Electoral Commission will provide special facilities to voters with disabilities. It includes assistance to any totally blind, partially blind or disabled voter to accompany an assistant to the polling station to mark the ballot paper. The Election Commission will also provide three-wheeler transportation to physically disabled persons when the distance between the entrance to the polling station premises and the building where the polling station is located is more than 100 meters or when the polling station is located in a hilly area with steps to climb. The display of notices in the polling station premises in sign language and live transmission of election results with sign language interpretation during the announcement of the results will also be implemented.

Rohana Hettiarachchi, director of PAFFREL told the Daily Mirror that 5,000 election observers will be deployed, of which 3,000 will be stationed inside the polling stations and 2,000 observers will patrol outside the polling stations. An additional 200 observers have been posted for the counting process which begins after 4 p.m. 90,000 security officers from the police and army will be deployed across the island to provide security during the elections and “there will also be mobile police patrols”, the police spokesperson said , Nihal Thalduwa.

A total of 3,187 complaints were received by the Election Commission, of which 22 complaints were considered acts of violence and 3,130 complaints were considered violence against the law. The Election Commission hopes to take action against these complaints.

Voting for the 2024 general elections is underway and Sri Lanka sees accession to the tenth legislature. The Election Commission of Sri Lanka hopes to hold peaceful and fair elections. “We ask all voters to vote as this is an important and crucial election that determines the future of our country. As we know that the economic crisis occurred because of the previous government, we hope to see a change .” Rohana Hettiarachchi, executive director of Popular Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), mentioned this.