Voting ends in Sri Lanka’s General Election

Voting in the 2024 Parliamentary Election in Sri Lanka officially closed at 4.00 p.m. today (14).

Accordingly, the ballot boxes have now been sealed at polling stations across the island, and counting is expected to begin shortly.

Meanwhile, it was previously reported that the overall voter turnout as at 2.00 p.m. today had exceeded 55 percent in several districts.

In the meantime, Police Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa stated this afternoon that polling for Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election has been peaceful to a large extent, with no election-related violence reported so far. However, he noted that three individuals involved in illegal election campaigning activities were arrested today. 

In a special press briefing, the Police Spokesman further added that aside from these incidents, no acts of violence have been reported thus far, and the election has remained peaceful overall.

A total of 17,140,354 Sri Lankans were eligible to vote in this year’s Parliamentary Election, with the Gampaha District registering the highest number of voters with 1,881,129. 

Colombo District was second with 1,765,351 registered voters, and Kurunegala District had 1,417,226 voters. The Northern Province had a combined total of 899,268 registered voters.

However, during the 2024 Presidential Poll held on 21 September 2024, over 3.5 million citizens who were eligible to vote, had not cast their votes during 2024 Presidential Election. Out of 17,140,354 registered voters, a total of 13,619,916 had cast their votes in the Presidential Election which is 79.46%, while 3,520,438 (21.54%) did not vote.

The voting took place at 13,421 polling stations across the island from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. today (14). 

The postal voting for the General Election commenced on October 30, and continued on November 1 and 4 where more than 700,000 of the registered voters had qualified for the advance voting process.

Through this election, a total of 225 Members of Parliament will be elected, comprising 196 members elected by public vote and 29 members entering through the national list.

Each electoral district has been allocated a designated number of seats, with Gampaha District receiving the highest number of parliamentary seats at 19 and a bonus seat, while Trincomalee District has been allocated the lowest number, with 4 seats.

The political party or independent group securing the highest number of votes in the district is entitled to have one member declared elected to the Bonus seat. The remaining number of members is declared elected on the basis of the proportion of votes obtained by the political party or the independent group.

The inaugural session of the Tenth Parliament, comprising of members elected through this process, is scheduled to commence on November 21, as per the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2403/13 dated 2024.09.24 issued by the President, according to the Parliamentary Communications Department.