Sri Lanka votes for new parliament

14/11/2024 12:36

        Sri Lanka began voting in a snap election on Thursday which will determine if the island nation wants to empower its new, leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to push his pro-poor policies as it recovers from a financial meltdown.
        
        A little over 17 million Sri Lankans are eligible to elect lawmakers to the 225-member parliament for a five-year term. A record 690 political parties and independent groups are in the fray across 22 electoral districts.
        
        Marxist-leaning Dissanayake, 55, was elected president in September but his National People's Power (NPP) coalition had just three of 225 seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve the legislature almost a year before its term ended and seek a fresh mandate.
        
        Over 7,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure free and fair elections at the more than 13,400 polling stations set up across the country, police officers told Reuters.
        
        "The military is also on standby to assist the police but we do not expect any incidents," said Police Spokesman Nihal Thalduwa, adding that voting was proceeding smoothly.
        
        As polling opened in the early hours of the morning, people began trickling into temples, schools and other public buildings being used as polling stations.
        Among them was Umeshi Perera, 32, who lined up to cast her ballot at a school in Biyagama, a suburb about 15 km (9 miles) from the South Asian nation's largest city of Colombo.