NPP takes strong lead in postal votes despite low voter turnout

Friday, 15 November 2024 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) was off the block on a strong note in initial release of postal votes as officials yesterday reported a low voter turnout for the 2024 Parliamentary election.

As per initial estimates voter turnout yesterday ranged between 60% and 65%, compared to the 75% turnout in the recent Presidential election.

However, poll observers noted that this has been a consistent trend in Sri Lanka, where Parliamentary elections typically see lower voter participation than Presidential elections.

The number appears to be the lowest turnout for a Parliamentary election since 2010 where the turnout was a mere 61.26%.

The Mannar Electoral District saw the highest voter turnout at 70%, followed closely by Jaffna at 69% and Nuwara Eliya at 68%. Voter interest was lowest in the Batticaloa Electoral District, which recorded a turnout of just 61%.

The country’s first Parliamentary election since its devastating economic crisis commenced at 7 a.m. and concluded at 4 p.m. yesterday across 13,314 polling stations. More than 17 million voters out of the island’s 21 million population were eligible to cast their votes to elect a 225-member Parliament for a five-year term. Counting continues to be underway at centres across the island. A record number of 690 political parties and independent groups competed in this election, spanning across 22 electoral districts.

Police Media Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa reported that election day proceeded smoothly, with no significant incidents of violence or unrest. The Police Media Division confirmed that 51 persons including two candidates were arrested by the police for election law violations. A press release from the Division noted that election law violations were recorded in at least 20 electoral districts. However, despite these minor infractions, the overall atmosphere was described as peaceful.

The first official postal voting results started coming in around 9.00 p.m. last night which showed landslide support for Dissanayake among the State sector employees in the Ratnapura and Galle districts. The National People’s Power (NPP), led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, secured a strong lead in postal votes, with 79% of the votes in both the Galle and Ratnapura districts. In Galle, the NPP garnered 32,298 postal votes, while in Ratnapura, they received 24,776 votes, reflecting significant support. NPP Colombo District Candidate Chathuranga Abeysinghe said this was evidence that there was no resistance within the Government sector to the NPP-led program.

Other parties, performed dismally in the two districts with the main Opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) led by Sajith Premadasa coming in second place garnered a mere 2969 postal votes in Ratnapura. In Galle coming in second once more the party managed to secure 3525 votes.