Liquor and rallies banned in lead-up to vote
These are the definite provisions necessary to avoid violence. According to the Electoral Commission, the final results will be announced already the day after the vote. The electoral campaign is now closed, "the most peaceful in recent decades". The positions taken by the two leading candidates.
Colombo (AsiaNews/Agencies) The final results of Sri Lanka's presidential election slated for 17 November will be made known already the day after the ballot. This was announced yesterday by the Electoral Commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake.
Meanwhile, the electoral campaign has drawn to a close; political analysts have defined as the most peaceful in recent decades. The sale of liquor and political rallies are banned in view of the election. The government said the ban on liquor, already in force for 48 hours, will last until 18 November; rallies of a political nature, meanwhile, have been prohibited from midnight last night until a week after the ballot. Last Sunday, police said the provisions were aimed at preventing occasions which could erupt into violence.
The Electoral Commissioner, Dissanayake, said "everything is ready" for the election and that vote counting will start immediately after the closure of polling booths at 4pm on Thursday. According to Dissanayake, the turnout should be round 80% if the weather is good without too much rain.
Kingsley Rodrigo director of the main group which will monitor the election, the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said "this electoral campaign has been the most peaceful in the last 20 years". PAFFREL has received reports of 114 cases of violence, a figure much lower than that of previous elections when dozens of people were killed.
In Sri Lanka, there are 13,327,160 citizens aged over 18 with the right to vote. They will select a president from among 13 candidates. According to predictions, the real competition has whittled down to a contest between two contenders: the current premier, Mahinda Rajapakse, of the governing party and the opposition leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe.
According to polls, there are two main stakes in the electoral game: the management of the fragile peace process with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the country's weak economy.
The premier has said he wants to change the terms of the peace process conducted through Norwegian mediation and to negotiate a new peace deal with the Tamil Tiger rebels, but he did not supply any details about how he planned to proceed. Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, wants to take up stalled negotiations with the separatists once again; the Tigers have said they are against any unilateral action in the peace process. The prime minister promotes an isolationist economic system while the opposition leader is in favour of attracting more foreign investment and to press ahead with major market reform.
Both candidates have tried to gain ground among the Tamil minority but the Tiger rebels, which exercise a considerable influence over the people, have remained neutral for now. The Sinhalese majority meanwhile appears to be equally split between the two.
There are 10,486 polling booths throughout the country and 710 vote-counting centres.
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09/10/2021 12:36
26/01/2010
