By Rathindra Kuruwita
Postal voting for the presidential election, scheduled for 21 September, commenced yesterday morning (04) and will continue until tomorrow, according to the Election Commission.
Voting will take place at over 1,500 centres.
Those who are unable to vote during this period can do so on the 11 and 12 September at polling stations set up in District Election Offices.
On the first day, only selected state employees were permitted to vote, and they included those attached to District Secretariats, the Elections Commission, and other state institutions directly involved with the election.
The staff at Senior DIG and DIG offices, Superintendent of Police (SP) and ASP offices, police stations, Special Task Force (STF) camps, other specialised police divisions, and VIP security units were allowed to cast their votes yesterday and they can do so today as well.
On 5 and 6 September, members of the security forces, and all other eligible voters, can participate in postal voting.
Meanwhile, election observers have been deployed to monitor the postal voting process to ensure there are no violations of election laws.
Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of People’s Action for Free & Fair Elections (PAFFREL), told The Island that they had stationed over 900 election observers.
Manjula Gajanayake, Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES), said that they had also deployed mobile monitoring units.
