News
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.”
The Paddy Marketing Board has approximately 115,000 metric tonnes of paddy stocks purchased from farmers, which are currently stored in the Board’s warehouses, and it has been planned to retain a sufficient buffer stock from these reserves and sell the remaining quantity in order to provide the necessary storage space and financial resources for the purchase of paddy from farmers during the upcoming Yala season.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to sell the aforementioned paddy stocks
following a formal tender procedure.
The Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 provides the legal provisions for regulating and promoting the export agriculture sector in this country.
Taking into consideration administrative changes and sectoral developments that have taken place over time, approval was granted at the Cabinet Meetings held on 2023-09-04 and 2025-08-11 to amend the said Act, which has not been updated for over 30 years.
The proposed amendments are intended to amend the designations of the Head of the Department of Export Agriculture and other officials, and to provide a clearer definition of the term “the export agricultural crop.”
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to publish in the Government Gazette the Draft Export Agriculture Promotion (Amendment) Bill, prepared in all three languages by the Legal Draftsman to amend the Export Agriculture Promotion Act, No. 46 of 1992, and thereafter submit the same to Parliament for its concurrence
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