A pair walks previous an election poster displaying a portrait of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. | Picture credit score: AP
A gaggle of election observers from the European Union and the Commonwealth have arrived in Sri Lanka to watch the presidential elections on Saturday (21 September 2024).
A complete of 116 representatives from varied worldwide election commentary organisations have arrived in Sri Lanka to watch the upcoming presidential elections, information portal Newsfirst reported on Friday (September 20, 2024).
Among the many observers, 78 are from the European Union (EU), which constitutes a considerable contingent of the EU election commentary mission.
The EU has beforehand performed election monitoring in Sri Lanka six instances, most lately throughout the 2019 presidential election.
As well as, 22 Commonwealth representatives have additionally arrived to take part in monitoring actions.
The Asia Election Statement Community has despatched 9 observers, whereas seven representatives from international locations within the South Asian area have joined the election commentary course of this 12 months, following an invite from the Election Fee.
These worldwide observers have been deployed in twenty-five districts to hold out their monitoring duties.
The Nationwide Electoral Fee has assured that each one vital measures have been taken to ensure the security of the observers, and that native police stations have been duly knowledgeable of their presence and tasks.
Greater than 17.1 million registered voters are eligible to solid ballots within the elections to instantly elect a chief govt for a five-year time period. These would be the first elections for the reason that worst financial disaster to hit the nation in 73 years.
Voting will happen between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday (21 September 2024) at greater than 13,400 polling stations.
Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, important opposition chief Sajith Premadasa and Marxist JVP chief Anura Kumara Dissanayake are the front-runners, with greater than 17 million of the island’s 21 million folks eligible to vote.
Printed – September 20, 2024 12:04 pm IST
