Vote counting begins in Lanka polls

22:36 November 16

UNP to emerge victorious in Lanka polls, hopes Jayawardena

While speaking to ETV Bharat exclusively Kavinda Jayawardena, Member of Parliament of the United National Party said that the UNP is expecting its victory in the island nation's eighth presidential elections.

20:23 November 16

Counting of votes has started in the eighth Sri Lankan presidential election. The candidate who obtains over 50 percent of valid votes will win the presidency, else the second preference votes have to be counted.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Executive Director of the People’s Actions for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Rohana Hettiarachchi said that average voter turnout of over 80 percent was recorded at the conclusion of the presidential election.

He said that voting has been peaceful throughout the day. The turnout is five percent less than previous polls.

17:12 November 16

A polling centre in Colombo wears a deserted look as people in very less number turn up to cast their votes, on Saturday.

16:07 November 16

ETV Bharat speaks to Kavinda Jayawardena

ETV Bharat speaks to Member of Parliament Kavinda Jayawardena of the United National Party in Colombo.

13:45 November 16

Voters queueing up to cast their ballots said they wanted a strong leader who would focus on action, not words.

12:59 November 16

A Sri Lankan shows indelible ink mark on his index finger after casting his vote

A Sri Lankan shows indelible ink mark on his index finger after casting his vote during the presidential election in Colombo.

12:57 November 16

A Sri Lankan man stands outside a polling station after casting his vote in Weerawila

A Sri Lankan man stands outside a polling station after casting his vote in Weerawila. A convoy of buses carrying Muslim voters traveling in northern Sri Lanka was attacked by gunfire and stones, and blocked by burning tires, around midnight on Saturday hours before polls opened in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, according to Colombo-based Centre for Monitoring Election Violence.

12:56 November 16

Police officers patrol at a polling station

Sri Lankans queue to cast their votes as police officers patrol at a polling station during the presidential election in Colombo

12:24 November 16

ecurity personnel patrol outside a polling station

Armed Police officers who are on duty at the polling stations will travel with the ballot boxes to the counting centers, and ensure the security of the ballot boxes: SSP Ruwan Gunasekara

12:13 November 16

Sri Lankans queue to cast their votes as a police officer secures at a polling station

Over 25,000 police officers have been deployed for polling booth duties. Over 3000 officers deployed for mobile patrols. Riot squads have also been placed on standby: SSP Ruwan Gunasekara

12:09 November 16

Sri Lankans wait in queue to cast their votes

Voter turn out at Polonnaruwa till10 am – 48%
Voter turn out at Gampaha till 10 am – 40%
Voter turn out at Kilinochchi till 10 am – 30%
Voter turn out at Vavuniya till 10 am – 35%
Voter turn out at Jaffna till 10 am – 24%
Voter turn out at Mannar till 10 am – 30%
Voter turn out at Puttalam till 10 am – 40%
Voter turn out at Moneragala till 10 am – 45%
Voter turn out at Kegalle till 10 am – 37%
Voter turn out at Kandy till 10 am – 30%

11:20 November 16

Premadasa leaves a polling station after casting his vote

Presidential candidate of Sri Lanka's governing party Sajith Premadasa leaves a polling station after casting his vote in Weerawila.

10:13 November 16

Sri Lankan police officers and polling workers wait to set off for their respective polling stations

Police say an unidentified group hurled stones, opened fire on two buses carrying voters, in Mannar. No injuries or arrests so far: Sri Lankan media.

09:45 November 16

Sri Lanka's former defense secretary and Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa casts his vote.

09:24 November 16

Security beefed up outside a polling station in Colombo

Security beefed up outside a polling station in Colombo.

09:07 November 16

Colombo:Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of buses carrying minority Muslim voters in northwest Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans voted Saturday to choose a new president in an election that will decide the future of the country that struggles with security challenges after the Easter Sunday bombings and increasing political polarisation.

It is a close contest between former wartime defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 70, and the ruling party candidate Sajith Premadasa, 52. Anura Kumara Dissanayake from the National People's Power (NPP) coalition is also a strong candidate.

Polls opened at 7 am local time and would close at 5 pm with some 12,845 polling stations being set up throughout the country for 15.9 million voters, who will choose a successor to President Maithripala Sirisina among a record 35 candidates.

Sirisena, who was elected in 2015, is not seeking a re-election.

Despite tight security, gunmen attacked a convoy of 100 buses transporting minority Muslim voters in northwest Sri Lanka, hours before polling got underway, the AFP reported.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but a police official said the attackers had burnt tyres on the road and set up makeshift road blocks to ambush the convoy of more than 100 vehicles in Tantirimale, 240 kilometres north of Colombo, the report said.

Over 60,000 security personnel have been deployed to provide adequate security for the election, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera.

The election is taking place, nearly seven months after homegrown radicals pledging loyalty to the Islamic State terror group detonated suicide bombs at three churches and three posh hotels, killing 269 people, seriously hitting the tourism industry, one of the main forex earning sectors of the country.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged the people to vote peacefully and maintain law and order to ensure a free and fair election.

Police said that at least 84 people have been arrested for election law violations since the day the election was declared.

Local and foreign election observers are on duty with European Union and Commonwealth observers manning selected areas.

We have mobilized over 4000 stationary and mobile monitors," Rohana Hettiacrachchi of the local monitoring group, Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said.

We have around 3000 monitors at selected polling stations, Manjula Gajanayake of Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said.

The first results are expected after midnight today, officials said.

Outgoing President Sirisena in a statement said he has created the "free environment" to hold the elections during the last four years of his rule and expressed hope that people would turn out in large numbers at polling stations to vote.

In the election, Premadasa, the ruling United National Party (UNP) candidate, banks on his 'man of the commoner' image - a legacy of his father Ranasinghe Premadasa, the country's president between 1989 and 1993 until the LTTE assassinated him in 1993.

Premadasa senior was considered as the "man of the poor". His welfare schemes and his low-cost housing programmes had endeared him to the masses.

If Premadasa senior is still remembered and loved for his commoner's touch, the dark side of his authoritarian rule still lingers. "We still remember his (Premadasa senior) gory era when we saw piles of bodies of youth burning on the roadsides on tyre pyres," Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former President, said at campaign rallies in support of his brother Gotabhaya.

"No one wants to return to the Premadasa terror era," he said.

Premadasa senior led a relentless crackdown on the Marxist JVP uprising between 1987-90.

The Rajapaksa senior's legacy of ending the Tamil separatist war has made him the darling of the Sinhala Buddhist majority.

His younger brother Gotabhaya was his top defence ministry official who supervised the daily military operations against the LTTE. While doing so he acquired a reputation as a ruthlessly efficient administrator.

A cleaner capital city of Colombo with spruced-up buildings, paved walkways became a symbol of Gotabhaya's efficiency.

His downside was attacking media personnel and crushing dissent under his brother's presidency which culminated in Sri Lanka being subject to UN Human Rights Council resolutions.

Gotabhaya, from Sri Lanka People's Front to his advantage has the image a man who is most trusted to safeguard national security after the Easter Sunday bombings on April 21 by the Jihadi group which killed over 270 people.

"We want him to tackle the threat of Muslim militancy and ensure national security," Shalani Perera, a first-time voter said.

Dissanayake banks on blunders made by the major parties over the last 70 years since Sri Lanka gained independence.

"Both have shown they are incapable of handling any of your issues, they are both corrupt," Dissanayake told campaign rallies.

The NPP who is dominated by Dissanayake's Marxist JVP has the unsavoury legacy of two bloody rebellions, in 1971 and 1987-90.

Since the late 90s they have campaigned extensively on good governance and anti-corruption platforms. They stood well against last year's constitutional coup when President Sirisena dismissed the government unconstitutionally.

Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and installed Mahinda Rajapaksa to replace him, plunging the country into constitutional turmoil.

After the Supreme Court's intervention, Wickremesinghe was reinstated.