RW elected President by Parliament
United National Party (UNP) Leader and six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected by Parliament as the Eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka yesterday.
A secret Parliamentary vote was held in Parliament yesterday in accordance with the provisions of the Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act No. 2 of 1981.
Out of the 225 Members of Parliament, 223 of them participated in the vote while two of them abstained.
Accordingly, 223 Members of Parliament voted during yesterday’s Parliamentary election to elect the eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka while four votes were deemed invalid.
UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe received 134 votes in his favour and won the election very comfortably and was elected as the Eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka.
Parliamentarian Dullas Alahapperuma received 82 votes while Leader of the National People’s Power Anura Kumara Dissanayake received three votes.
The counting of ballots took place in the presence of three MPs who were nominated representatives of the three candidates.
Accordingly, MP Harin Fernando observed the counting on behalf of Ranil Wickremesinghe, while MP Dilan Perera observed the vote count on behalf of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Parliamentarian Dullas Alahapperuma and MP Vijitha Herath observed the counting on behalf of leader of the National People’s Power Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake and his team counted and tallied the votes.
Secretary General Dassanayake then announced the number of votes obtained by each of the three candidates and announced that Parliament has elected UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President of Sri Lanka.
Parliament convened at 10am under the auspices of Speaker of House Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.
Subsequently the announcement regarding the vote was made and Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake detailed the voting process.
Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake presided over the Parliamentary vote.
Voting began with Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena casting the first ballot.
Prior to the commencement of the casting of votes, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena informed all parliamentarians not to bring their mobile phones to the polling booth when voting for the election of the President.
The Speaker noted that he expects the cooperation of all parties during the poll to elect a successive president and urged all parliamentarians to conduct themselves in an orderly manner adhering to all rules and regulations and respecting democracy.