Sri lankans on Monday voted in large numbers to elect a new Parliament in polls that will decide the political future of former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa who is eyeing a dramatic comeback as Prime Minister months after being toppled as president by Maithripala Sirisena.
Sri lankans queued up to elect a 225-member Parliament and voting closed at 4 PM local time in the polls described as most peaceful in recent times by police and monitoring groups.
The election promises a close battle between the United National Party (UNP) of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of President Sirisena. Steady polling was recorded in many districts as the polls opened at 7 AM but the voting picked up in the afternoon, officials said.
However, the election officials expected the turnout to be less than 70 per cent and way below the 81 per cent recorded in the presidential election held in January.
Though the polls were largely peaceful, there were some complaints about attempts to bribe voters with offers of alcohol in the central hill plantation areas. “We arrested 32 people today for trying to impersonate and for other minor offenses,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe congratulated election officials and police for conducting the most peaceful election in recent times. “We received only 225 complaints during the entire period of campaigning.
This is less than what we received per day in the past elections,” Mahinda Deshapriya, the elections chief, said.