2024 General Election: Process of counting votes explained

The Chairman of the Election Commission, R.M.A.L. Ratnayake, stated that the counting of votes for the general election will commence at 4.15 p.m. on November 14.

He made these remarks during a special press briefing held today (12) at the Department of Government Information, where he provided updates on the general election.

Ratnayake also informed that the results from polling areas and district-level results will be released to the media only after being re-checked and approved by the Election Commission. Thus, he urged everyone to refrain from releasing unofficial election results.

“Arrangements have been made to begin counting postal votes at 4.15 p.m. on November 14. The counting of regular votes will start after receiving the ballot boxes from the respective polling stations at around 7.15 p.m., following the completion of the official procedures. Afterwards, arrangements will be made to release the results to the media. Until then, everyone is requested to refrain from releasing unofficial results,” he said.

Ratnayake also shared details about the vote-counting process, which will be carried out in three phases:

“The counting of votes takes place in three stages. First, the votes in each box are counted. Then, the votes received by each recognized political party and independent group are counted. At the end of that process, the number of MPs that can be elected from each party or group is calculated according to the votes, followed by the counting of preferential votes received by each candidate. After that, the candidates from these parties and groups will be elected for the position of MP based on the highest number of votes they received,” he explained.

The candidates from the parties and independent groups will be elected to the position of MP based on the highest number of votes they have obtained, according to the Election Commission chairman.