EC: Gen. election likely to attract more voters than presidential poll

Staggering 3.5 mn voters skipped Sept. poll

Commissioner General of ElectionS Saman Sri Rathnayake yesterday (13) said that the general election could attract much more voters than the presidential election.

Of 17,140,354 registered voters, 13,619,916 (79.46 %) exercised their franchise at the presidential election held on Sept. 21. Rathnayake said. The peaceful atmosphere following the presidential election was very much likely to influence the electorate.

Responding to another query, Rathnayake said that some people had refrained from voting for any party as they feared eruption of violence soon after the declaration of results.

A staggering 3,520,438 or one fifth of the electors didn’t vote at the last election, Rathnayake said, urging the public to cast their votes today.

Of the 225 MPs, 196 are elected and the rest appointed through the National List, depending on the votes received by political parties.

Rathnayake said that usually 65%-70% voting could be expected at a general election, though the 2020 national election recorded a bigger percentage than the usual. Rathnayake attributed that to the post-2019 presidential election developments.

During the parliamentary election campaign, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared that none of those in the fray, except the National People’s Power (NPP), would be able to poll more votes than they had received in the last presidential election.

Sarvajana Balaya Colombo district contestant Udaya Gammanpila said that their party could definitely poll more than it had received at the presidential election but the NPP wouldn’t be able to do so. Dissanayake polled 5,634,915 votes (42.31 %) whereas Sarvajana Balaya leader Dilith Jayaweera obtained 122,396 votes (0.92 %).

Former Chairman of EC and Attorney-at-Law Nimal Punchihewa asserted that a significant increase of voters was very much unlikely in the general election when compared with the presidential election results. (SF)