Voting for the general elections (parliamentary elections) was held in Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The elections took place peacefully and now, according to election officials, the counting of votes will begin when all the ballot boxes arrive at the counting centers. The first trend is likely to arrive tonight. These elections are said to be a big test for the People’s National Party (NPP), led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Voting was down compared to last time.
According to electoral monitoring groups, turnout was lower than the 79 percent recorded in last September’s presidential election. By 12 noon, after five hours of voting, less than 50 percent of the votes had been recorded in most precincts. According to the information, the electoral commission expected 65 percent of the votes.
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225 seats were voted on.
Voting took place starting at 7 in the morning at 13,314 polling stations throughout the country. More than 17 million voters of Sri Lanka’s 21 million people were eligible to vote for the new 225-member Parliament, which will be elected for a five-year term.
Around 90,000 security personnel were deployed to ensure security at the election site. A police spokesperson said that apart from the arrest of three people involved in election campaign activities, there were no violent incidents and the elections passed peacefully.
The ruling PNP party is reportedly expected to win a simple majority with 113 seats in the 225-member assembly, according to estimates by election observers.
What did the current president say?
Speaking to the media after voting in Colombo, Anura Kumara Dissanayake said she hoped for a mandate for a strong Parliament. Asked if he had hopes of winning an absolute majority of 150 seats, he said: “If we bring in laws that are beneficial to the people, we can even get a two-thirds majority.”
What was the situation of the last elections?
We tell you that Ranil Wickremesinghe had to face major setbacks in the last general elections in Sri Lanka. He failed to become voters’ first choice and was relegated to third place. At the same time, leftist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was chosen by a large section of voters as their first choice for the position of President.
