Voting for Sri Lanka’s 9th Executive President commenced today (21st) at 7:00 AM. The Chairman of the Election Commission, Mr. R.M.A.L. Rathnayake, urged voters to cast their ballots early, emphasizing the importance of each vote.
Polling is taking place across 13,421 stations nationwide, running from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. This year marks a historic presidential election with the highest number of candidates ever. Originally, 39 candidates were in the race, but following the death of Mr. Mohammad Illayas, the list was reduced to 38.
A total of 17,140,354 voters are eligible to participate in this election. The Gampaha district, with 1,881,129 registered voters, leads as the district with the highest number of voters among the country’s 22 electoral districts. Colombo follows closely with 1,765,351 registered voters, while Kurunegala has 1,417,226, and Kandy 1,191,399.
Other significant districts include Kalutara with 1,024,244 eligible voters, Ratnapura with 923,736, Galle with 903,163, Anuradhapura with 741,862, and Kegalle with 709,622. Badulla district has 705,772 registered voters, and Matara has 686,175. In Puttalam, 663,673 people are eligible to vote, while Nuwara Eliya counts 605,292.
In the Jaffna electoral district, encompassing Jaffna and Kilinochchi, there are 593,187 registered voters. The Digamadulla district reports 555,432 voters, while Hambantota district has 520,940.
Batticaloa district has 449,686 eligible voters, while Matale reports 429,991. Monaragala district has 399,166 voters, Polonnaruwa district 351,302, and Trincomalee district 315,925.
The electoral district with the fewest voters is the one that includes Vavuniya, Mannar, and Mullaitivu, with 306,081 registered voters. Meanwhile, the Homagama constituency in the Colombo district holds the largest number of registered voters for this year’s election, with 215,075 eligible to cast their ballots.
