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3.5 million Lankans did not vote in presidential election
Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said yesterday (23) that over 3.5 million citizens who were eligible to vote, had not voted at the 2024 presidential election, and they accounted for 21.24% of voters.
Taking part in the Ada Derana current affairs programme “Big Focus”, Ratnayake said that out of 17,140,354 registered voters, a total of 13,619,916 had voted in the presidential election. The voter turnout was 79.46%; 3,520,438 (21.54%) did not vote.
Meanwhile, approximately 300,300 (2.2%) votes were rejected, according to the Elections Commissioner General.
Ratnayake said: “Usually in presidential elections, the percentage of votes cast is higher than 80%. Political parties should also ensure that the people vote. We provide necessary facilities. We request the political parties to prepare some sort of programme for that.”