The Presidential Election 2024 is held today (21) from 7 am to 4 pm with a total number of 171.4 Mn Sri Lankan citizens getting the opportunity to cast their votes to elect the Ninth Executive President of Sri Lanka.
Special security will be provided by the police for the transport of ballot boxes and election officials and a special traffic plan is in place today around the polling stations, Police Media Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa said.
The ballot boxes and election officials have been transported to 13,421 polling stations across the country in preparation for the voting at all the polling centres around the country in all districts, the Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said. The number of issuing centres established for this purpose is 1,234 and more than 150,000 government officials have been deployed for polling station duties across the country.
The Police Media Spokesman said that a total of 63,000 police officers have been deployed for the security of the presidential election and other duties including security for the polling and counting centres and special security will be provided to safeguard the sealed ballot boxes during transportation from polling centres to counting centres in all districts including protection from natural disasters and other dangers. A total of 10,000 civil defence personnel have also been deployed to assist the Police and Police Special Task Force (STF) officers have been deployed to conduct Election Day street monitoring mobile trips.
Chairman of the Election Commission said that police have been tasked to use maximum force if any person behaves riotously in and around the polling centres on the day of the Presidential election including arresting such individuals who break the law. He stressed that outdoor public screening on large screens of election results and crowds assembling on streets after voting and during the counting of votes and announcing election results, lighting firecrackers, partying in the streets, sending off lighted balloons in the air are all strictly banned by law and police has been instructed to disperse such gatherings or arrest and advised all people to stay indoors and view the election results in private at their homes.
The Election Commission Chairman said that if there are any disruptive acts in a polling centre, according to the report of the returning officer of that polling centre, if it is necessary to nullify the vote at the particular polling centre, the Election Commission will work to nullify it and if the nullifying of the vote of that polling centre affects the overall voting result, a re-polling will be held and the overall voting result will not be released until voting in those polling centres is completed and therefore urged people to refrain from loitering in and around polling centres, abstain from acts of violence to disrupt the polling activities. He said that all security forces have been instructed to strictly implement the law including arrest of such individuals or groups with the police and the STF forces being deployed to maintain peace and the Tri-Forces kept ready to be called in to assist in any emergency situations.
The Chairman of the Election Commission said that 116 representatives of international election observation organizations have arrived in the country to observe the Presidential election and 78 of them are European Union election observers with 22 Commonwealth Nations observers and 9 observers representing the Asian Election Observation Network.
On the invitation of the Election Commission, seven representatives from the South Asian countries have also arrived in the country for the Presidential election observation process.
Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) Chairman Lalith De Alwis said that a special bus service had been set up by the SLTB from yesterday (20) making all arrangements to provide the necessary transport facilities to the people going to their villages to cast their votes with measures taken to deploy extra long-distance service buses for this purpose.The Election Commission has issued strict instructions to all government officials appointed for the duties of the Presidential poll to act impartially and maintain a cordial relationship showing kindness and patience when dealing with the voters, candidates and their authorized representatives especially during the polling period to ensure that the voters can vote according to their conscience in a free and fair atmosphere.
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