In a historic first, Sri Lanka’s presidential election went right into a second spherical of counting after no candidate secured over 50% vote

Police commandos stand guard, as a national curfew was imposed then, exterior a poll counting heart in the course of the presidential election in Colombo, on September 22, 2024.
| Picture Credit score: AP

In a historic first, Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Sunday (September 22, 2024) went right into a second spherical of counting after no candidate secured over 50% vote wanted to be declared the winner.

The most recent outcomes confirmed Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna get together’s broader entrance Nationwide Folks’s Energy (NPP) had gained 39.52% of the votes counted.

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Opposition chief Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya is in second place with almost 34.28% of the whole vote.

Sri Lankans voted on Saturday (September 21, 2024) to elect a brand new president within the first election because the financial meltdown in 2022.

Election Fee Chairman R M A L Rathnayake stated that Dissanayake and Premadasa have secured most votes within the 2024 presidential election.

Nonetheless, he stated that as neither has secured greater than 50 per cent vote, the second desire vote can be counted and added to those two candidates.

Voters in Sri Lanka elect a single winner by rating as much as three candidates so as of desire. If a candidate receives an absolute majority, they are going to be declared the winner. If not, a second spherical of counting will begin, with second and third-choice votes then taken into consideration.

Mr. Rathnayake stated the brand new President can be declared elected after the cumulative votes and desire votes are counted.

He additionally stated that the remaining candidates won’t be thought-about for the desire vote.

Dissanayake, the chief of the Marxist JVP’s broader entrance Nationwide Folks’s Energy (NPP), is main within the cumulative votes.

The Nationwide Folks’s Energy (NPP) chief was earlier heading for a transparent win however his cumulative votes dropped when a lot of the votes have been counted.

No election in Sri Lanka has ever progressed to the second spherical of counting, as single candidates have at all times emerged as clear winners based mostly on first-preference votes.