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High voter turnout for poll, rains delay counting
View(s):A major violence-free presidential election recorded a voter turnout of more than 80 percent, National Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya declared yesterday.
It could increase to 84 or 85 percent when the postal votes were added, he said. “This is the first time we had such a peaceful election,” he said, adding that he was thankful to all those who helped him in the endeavor.
His comments came after polling closed last evening at the eighth presidential election. Ballot boxes were being moved to 23 different counting centres as he spoke.
Police elections chief DIG Sarath Perera said The only major incident yesterday was when a bus transporting voters was fired upon at Oyamadu near Tantrimale. It was carrying displaced Muslim people, now in Puttalam, to their polling stations in Mannar, the DIG said.
Besides this, Police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekera said 24 people were arrested in and around polling centres yesterday. Seven of them were found to be photographing ballot papers when they were caught in the act, he said.
The high voter turnout was recorded despite rains late afternoon in Colombo and the districts of Nuwara Eliya, Anuradhapura, Hatton and Jaffna.
Election officials said yesterday that polling was brisk since the polling stations opened at 7 a.m. The bulk of voters in most districts had cast their votes before noon. One exception was in Jaffna where there was only a 25 percent turnout before noon but the figure rose to 64 percent in the afternoon.
NEC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said late last night that delays could be expected in issuing results of the Kegalle, Ratnapura and Badulla districts as heavy rains had caused slight flooding in certain areas of these districts. This prevented some ballot boxes reaching the counting centres on time. As a result, counting in some centres only began around 10pm, he said.