2024 Presidential Election: Guidelines issued for voters

The voting for the presidential poll to elect the 9th executive president of Sri Lanka is scheduled to be held on Saturday (September 21).

The Election Commission stated that voting will take place in 13,421 polling stations from 7.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. on Saturday.

The election campaigning activities related to the presidential election concluded at midnight yesterday (18) and the period up to the time of the presidential election has been declared as a silence period.

The Election Commission says all election campaigning activities are strictly prohibited during this period, while police have the authority to arrest any individuals who violate the election laws.

The Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake said that all the necessary initial preparations for the election have been already planned. 

With regard to what voters should take with them when visiting the polling stations, he explained that that the polling card and a valid national identity card (NIC) or a valid driver’s license or a valid passport or an elderly identity card issued by the Department of Social Services; or a pensioner’s identity card issued by the Department of Pensions can be used to cast their votes.

He further added that, the identity card issued to the clergy is also acceptable as is the temporary ID card which has been specifically issued for the disabled community. For those who do not have any of these, the temporary ID issued by the commission through the Grama Niladhari officers are also permitted to be used for voting.

In this year’s presidential election, voters can indicate their preferences for candidates of their choice.

The Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake explaining how the vote should be marked.

“If someone wants to use their vote, they can use the ‘X’ mark to cast their votes. Similar to previous elections, the ‘X’ mark will be accepted by the Election commission. In addition, the Arabic numeral ‘1’ is also valid for marking the vote”, he added.

Saman Sri Rathnayake further stated that for those wishing to indicate preferences, they can mark their first choice with the Arabic numeral ‘1’ and their second choice with the Arabic numeral ‘2’. To express all three preferences, voters must use Arabic numerals ‘1’, ‘2’, and ‘3’ and any other markings will be considered invalid, he said.

Meanwhile, the Postal Department has announced that post offices will be open next Saturday for individuals who have not yet received their official ballot papers.

Postmaster General Ruwan Sathkumara noted that around 300,000 official ballot papers still remain in the post offices across the country.