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Can vote on reaching 18: Polls Commissioner
View(s):By Damith Wickramasekara
Election laws will soon be amended to ensure that citizens are eligible to vote at national elections on attaining the age of 18 years.
Under current election laws, electoral registers are revised only annually in June. As such, even those who have reached 19 years of age on the day of an election, are not eligible to vote, if they had turned 18 after June. “This is an extremely unfair situation,” pointed out Elections Commission (EC) Chairman, Mahinda Deshapriya .
As such, the EC is to prepare supplementary electoral registers once every 4 months. This would ensure that, those who have reached 18 years, would be able to obtain voter registration.
Mr. Deshapriya said the EC had already held discussions with all registered political parties and the proposal had been unanimously endorsed.
A proposal in this regard is due to be presented to Cabinet in the coming weeks, and provided Cabinet approves the draft, it would be presented to Parliament for approval.
Additional Elections Commissioner M.M. Mohammed told the Sunday Times that, the new system would enable the registration of those who reach 18 years of age right up until the day of election.
An average of 200,000 to 250,000 new voters are added to the electoral register every year. This number is likely to rise significantly, once the new amendments come into effect.