Sri Lanka’s Presidential polls begins

Jan 08,2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s presidential poll started at 7 in the morning today and is expected to continue till 4 p.m. President Rajapaksa is contesting for a third term seeking back another term in office. He is challenged by former Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, who defected to the opposition.

A total 15,044,490 voters have been registered for the election, while 12,314 polling stations are set up in the 22 administrative districts and more than 70,000 policemen are on duty for the day.

Gampaha has the highest registered voters about 1,637,537 and Vanni reported lowest of 253,058 voters data showed.

Election Chief said the army would be deployed if necessary and security had been tightened in several areas where violent incidents had been reported.

The 7th Presidential Election will be monitored by People’s Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFEE) and Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) and foreign observers, including Commonwealth Election Monitors.

The counting of vote would is expected at 6.00 p.m. today. About 303 postal