COLOMBO, Sept 19 (Askume) – Sri Lanka holds a presidential election on Saturday, with 38 candidates vying for the top job in the debt-ridden South Asian nation.
Here are the key steps for the 17.1 million Sri Lankans to qualify to vote for the next president, who will serve a five-year term.
nominated
Sri Lanka’s election panel approved the nomination of 39 candidates, including President Ranil Wickremesinghe, for voting. One candidate later died.
Campaign rally
After the election panel approves candidates, the official campaign begins. Wickremesinghe’s August 17 rally in the historic city of Anuradhapura was the first of about 100 he will hold. His main rivals also held dozens of separate rallies.
Event over
The campaign ended at midnight on Wednesday, 48 hours before Election Day.
Number of eligible voters
Over 17 million voters are eligible to participate in the elections. About 1 million of them are first-time voters.
Election Process
Sri Lanka’s first-past-the-post system allows voters to select up to three candidates, who can be declared the winner if they receive at least 50% or more of the total vote.
If no candidate receives 50% support in the first round, the law stipulates that a run-off will be held between the two leading candidates. Sri Lanka is likely to have a second count for the first time in four decades since the current voting system was introduced, as there is fierce competition between the front-runners.
Voting and counting
Voting will take place amid tight security at thousands of polling stations. After voting ends, government employees will count the votes under the supervision of Election Commission officials, election observers and candidate representatives.
Voting began at 7am local time (0130 GMT) and ended at 4pm (1030 GMT), with counting due to begin shortly after.
Results Declared
The Election Commission may officially declare the winner on Sunday. The winner is usually sworn in as president and new cabinet ministers are appointed on the same day.
