Sajith Premadasa secured 167,867 preferential votes in the second count while Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured 105,264 votes. The votes were added to the first round totals. 

Sajith Premadasa secured 167,867 preferential votes in the second count while Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured 105,264 votes. The votes were added to the first round totals. 

Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured victories in 105 electorates out of a total of 160. While Sajith Premadasa won in 50 electorates. Independent candidate Ariyanethiran Pakkiyaselvam secured 6 electorates.

Breakdown of the electorates won by the three candidates;

Anura Kumara Dissanayake:

Colombo District: Borella,Colombo-East, Dehiwala, Ratmalana, Kolonnawa, Kotte, Kaduwela, Avissawella, Homagama, Maharagama, Kesbewa, Moratuwa

Gampaha District: Wattala, Negombo, Katana, Divulapitiya, Mirigama, Minuwangoda, Attanagalla, Gampaha, Ja-Ela, Mahara, Dompe, Biyagama, Kelaniya

Kalutara District: Panadura, Bandaragama, Horana, Bulathsinhala, Matugama, Kalutara, Beruwala, Agalawatta

Kandy District: Galagedara, Harispattuwa, Kundasale, Hewaheta, Senkadagala, Mahanuwara, Yatinuwara, Udunuwara, Nawalapitiya

Matale District: Dambulla and Matale

Galle District: Balapitiya, Ambalangoda, Karandeniya, Bentara-Elpitiya, Hiniduma, Baddegama, Ratgama, Galle, Akmeemana, Habaraduwa

Matara District: Deniyaya, Hakmana, Akuressa, Kamburupitiya, Devinuwara, Matara, Weligama

Hambantota District: Mulkirigala, Beliatta, Tangalle, Tissamaharama

Digamadulla District: Ampara

Kurunegala District: Galgamuwa, Nikaweratiya, Yapahuwa, Hiriyala, Wariyapola, Panduwasnuwara, Bingiriya, Katugampola, Kuliyapitiya, Dambadeniya, Polgahawela, Kurunegala, Mawathagama, Dodangaslanda

Puttalam District: Puttalam, Anamaduwa, Chilaw, Nattandiya, Wennapuwa

Anuradhapura District: Anuradhapura-East, Anuradhapura-West, Kalawewa, Mihintale, Kekirawa

Polonnaruwa District: Minneriya, Medirigiriya, Polonnaruwa

Badulla District: Bandarawela

Monaragala District: Wellawaya

Ratnapura District: Eheliyagoda, Ratnapura, Balangoda, Kalawana, Kolonna

Kegalle District: Dedigama, Galigamuwa, Kegalle, Rambukkana, Mawanella, Aranayake, Ruwanwella

Sajith Premadasa:

Colombo District: Colombo - North, Colombo - Central, Colombo - West

Kandy District: Patha-Dumbara, Mada-Dumbara, Teldeniya, Hewaheta, Gampola

Jaffna District: Kankesanturai, Manipay, Kopay, Chavakachcheri, Kilinochchi

Vanni District: Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullativu

Batticaloa District: Kalikuda, Batticaloa, Padiruppu

Digamadulla District: Sammanthurai, Kalmunai, Pottuvil

Trincomalee District: Seruwila, Trincomalee, Mutur

Puttalam District: Puttalam

Anuradhapura District: Medawachchiya, Horowpothana

Nuwara Eliya District: Nuwara Eliya, Kotmale, Hanguranketa, Walapane, Maskeliya

Badulla District: Mahiyanganaya, Wiyaluwa, Passara, Badulla, Hali-Ela, Uva-Paranagama, Welimada, Haputale

Monaragala District: Bibila and Monaragala

Ratnapura District: Palmadulla, Rakwana and Nivitigala

Kegalle District: Yatiyanthota and Deraniyagala

This comprehensive breakdown illustrates the electoral landscape and highlights the strongholds of each candidate in various districts across Sri Lanka.

Ariyanethiran Pakkiyaselvam:

Jaffna District: Kyats, Vaddukoddai, Udupiddy, Point Pedro, Nallur and Jaffna.

A total of 300, 300 votes cast at yesterday's presidential election have been rejected. The total represents 2.2% of total votes cast. Of the 17, 140, 354 voters eligible to cast their ballots at yesterday's election, 13, 619, 916 voters had cast their ballots. 

District preference votes are being released.

Preparations are underway to announce the final results at the Election Commission and the main candidates have been invited to the venue. The announcement will be made after the count of the preference votes will be added to final district results. In the first round Anura kumara Dissanayake received 5.6 million (42.31%), Sajith Premadasa 4.3 million (32.76 %) and Ranil Wickremesinghe received 2.2 million (17.27 %).

Sajith Premadasa returns higher majority votes in North and East

In what looked like an entirely different election results pattern, SJB Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa returned a higher number of votes compared to other candidates.

Jaffna electoral district experienced a tight race with Mr Premadasa beating Tamil Common candidate P. Ariyanethrian by only 4489 votes. Manipay division went to Premadasa by only 22 votes. Kayts, Jaffna, Vaddukkoddai, Udupiddy, Point Pedro, and Nallur divisions in Jaffna electorate voted in favor of Ariyanethran while Kankesanthurai, Manipay, Kopay, Chavakachcheri, and Kilinochchi voted for Premadasa.  

In the Vanni electoral district, Mr Premadasa secured a higher margin, beating his main contender Wickremesinghe by over 42,000 votes. Mr Ariyanethran trailed at third place having received 36,377 votes or 16.74 per cent. Mr Premadasa won all Vanni polling divisions. 

The tight race in the North is unique this time compared to previous elections where Northern voters rallied behind one particular candidate. In 2019 and 2015 they voted overwhelmingly for Mr Premadasa and Mr Sirisena respectively. But in this election, no candidate received more than half of their vote. 

In the East, voting patterns were more closely similar to trends in the South as the Tamil common candidate did not make it to the top three. Nevertheless, a crucial difference is the better performance of Mr Wickremesinghe over Mr Dissanayake. 

Mr Premadasa comfortably won all three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and Digamadulla. In Trincomalee Dissanayake lagged by 29.53 percent and in Digamadulla, he was 21.59 per cent behind. Meanwhile, in Batticaloa, Mr Wickremesinghe proved to be a stronger competitor coming in second. Ariyanethiran received 7.74 per cent  in Trincomalee, 2.36 per cent in Digamadulla, and 9.71 per cent in Batticaloa. 

In the Digamadulla electoral district, the Ampara electorate was the only one to vote for Dissanayake in the district.In Trincomalee too, the race in the Tamil and Muslim majority divisions of Mutur and Trincomalee was between Premadasa and Wickremesinghe while the Sinhala majority division of Seruwila brought Dissanayake in second. 

In Batticaloa Mr Premadasa and Mr Wickremesinghe were front-runners across the board. Mr Dissanayake didn't even make it to third place in two of the three electroates, with Ariyanethiran overtaking him in Kalkudah and Padiruppu. 

The Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the Sri Lanka presidential election, former President of Seychelles Danny Faure, has called for patience as the country enters an extended second counting phase. President Faure stated that Sri Lankan voters have expressed their wishes, ushering the country into a historic second phase of counting, in a preferential voting system since its introduction in 1982.

Batticaloa district final results- Sajith  Premadasa 139,110, Ranil Wickremesinghe 91,132 and Anura Kumara Dissanayake 38,832.

The Election Commission (EC) has announced that second preference voting will be conducted, as no candidate has secured over 50 per cent of the total votes.

EC Chairman R.A.M.L. Ratnayake told reporters today that, apart from Anura Kumara Dissanayake of NPP and Sajith Premadasa of SJB, all other candidates will be eliminated from the next round of counting.

Mr. Dissanayake has secured 39.52% leading the race, while Mr. Premadasa has obtained 34.28%.

In the Postal votes, National Peoples’ Power Presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured 19 out of 22 electoral districts. Sajith Premadasa won postal votes in the electoral districts of Vanni, while Ranil Wickremesinghe clinched Batticaloa and Jaffna. 

Government officials and members of the Tri-forces who were deployed for election duties were eligible to cast their ballot through the postal vote. A total of 712,318 people were eligible for postal voting.

District Returning Officers are instructed to be prepared for counting of second preference votes as counting ballots is currently underway, a senior official from the Election Secretariat said. 

Currently, NPP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake is leading the polls with 40.7 per cent votes, with Sajith Premadasa trailing behind with 33.38 per cent and independent candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe with 17.41 per cent votes as of 12.00 pm, according to official results released by Election Commission so far. 

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won the Galle District with 366,721 (51%) votes. Sajith Premadasa came second with 189,555 (27%) votes. Ranil Wickremesinghe secured 107,336 (15%) votes while Namal Rajapaksa came fourth with 24,382 (3%) votes. 

Anura Kumara Dissanayake of NPP leads the postal vote results in Kalutara District, securing 21,589 votes. Ranil Wickremesinghe: 7,456 votes & Sajith Premadasa: 5,465 votes.

Several prominent government and opposition MPs have congratulated Anura Kumara Dissanayake who is leading in the 2024 presidential election as more results come in. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Dr. Harsha De Silva, Tamil Progressive Alliance Leader Mano Ganesan and All Ceylon Makkal Congress Leader Rishad Bathiudeen have all congratulated Mr Dissanayake on X, recognising him as the new president-elect of Sri Lanka. 

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won the Polonnaruwa district securing 130,880 votes (46.12%). Sajith Premadasa 100,730 (35.49%)

Sajith Premadasa won the Jaffna district with 121,177 votes while the Tamil common candidate P.Ariyanethiran came second  with 116,688 votes. Ranil Wickremesinghe won  84,558 votes while Anura Kumara Disaanayake won  27,086 votes.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake is leading with 44.46 per cent of the vote followed by Sajith Premadasa 30.25 per cent.  Ranil Wickremesinghe has received 15.75 per cent.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has secured victory in 19 of the 25 electrates of which results been announced. Sajith Premadasa has won in four seats and P Aruyannethiran in two seats.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake is maintaining his lead with an average of 50 percent of his votes. Upto now Mr Dissanayake has secured 4.8 percent while Sajith Premadasa has received 26.9 percent of votes and Ranil Wickremesinghe has 16.0.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has reached the highest number of votes in twelve electorates so far. He had won electorates Matara, Ambalangoda, Balapitiya, Ratgama, weligama, Badulla, Kandy, Belliatta and Tangalle.  While the independent candidate Ariyanethirnan Pakkiyaselvam has won the Nallur and Jaffna electorates.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake continued to maintain his lead in the overall presidential election results announced so far by securing 51.6 percent of the vote followed by Sajith Premadasa with 21.3 percent of the vote followed by Ranil  Wickremesinghe with 19.7 per cent.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake further extended the lead in the  presidential election 2024 by winning more postal votes in Nuwara Eliya, Anuradapura, Kegalle, Digamadulla Districts. Meanwhile Sajith Premadasa secured the highest postal votes in the Vanni  District.

Independent candidate Ariyanethirnan Pakkiyaselvam (32.03%) won the Nallur Electorate while Ranil Wickremesinghe (27.93%) and Sajith Premadasa (23.68%) secured the second and third highest votes respectively. Anura Kumara Dissnayake (12.16%) placed fourth.
 

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has taken an early lead in the presidential election 2024 by winning most of the postal votes in Districts of  results announced so far.  He has won the  Ratnapura, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Monaragala, Galle, Trincomalee, Matale, Colombo and Matara Districts.  

Final voter turnout is estimated to be between 75 and 80 per cent, according to election monitors.

Ballot boxes are being transported to counting centers for counting process.

Postal vote results anticipated by midnight today.

Polling concludes, marking the end of Election Day.

An average voter turn out of over 65 per cent has been reported so far.

The Disaster Management Center (DMC) has activated a joint disaster operation unit in coordination with the Election Commission (EC) with Tri-Forces as a precautionary step to handle any disruptions during the election period.

A youth was taken into questioning by Election Officials for tearing the ballot sheet in a polling station in Jaffna. 

Jaffna District's voter turnout is marked at 35 percent by 12.00 p.m

In most districts over 50 per cent of the voters have cast their votes. 

NPP leader and presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake casts his vote. 

Presidential candidate Wijedasa Rajapaksa casts his vote.

Election watchdog PAFFREL recorded 35 Election related violations today from (7.00 am-10.00 am) across the country.

One person has been arrested at a polling station for allegedly photographing his ballot paper after marking his vote, the Galle District Returning Office said.

Colombo district voter turn out so far is 27 percent, Deputy Commissioner of Elections M.M.S.K Bandara Mapa said.

The average voter turn out so far, in most districts are over 30 per cent, election officials said.

Opposition Leader and SJB Presidential Candidate Sajith Premadasa casts his vote.

Independent Presidential candidate and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe casts his vote.

Heavy rains in Nuwara Eliya, but enthusiasm among voters high.

The EC has issued a gazette to amend voting time to facilitate for all waiting in queues past 4 pm to cast their vote.
 

Three hours into the poll, voting is continuing at a steady pace without any major incidents.

9:25 a.m.: The Naula Police has arrested an office assistant assigned for election duties last night as he was under the influence of liquor and acted in a manner to disrput the election process. The incident took place at the Naula - Pubbiliya Model School polling station and he is to be produced before the Naula Magistrate’s Court today.

9:20 a.m.: SLPP candidate Namal Rajapaksa cast his vote a short while ago. “ Every vote matters for the future of the country,” Mr. Rajapaksa said in a X post.

9.18 a.m.: Chairman of the Election Commission R.M.A.L.Ratnayake urged voters to go to their respective polling booths early and cast their vote. He urged people to avoid gathering outside polling booths.

9.08 a.m.: Public Security Minister Tiran Alles who spoke to reporters after casting his vote a short while ago said all measures are in place to ensure security in the country and appealed to all citizens to ensure a peaceful conduct of the poll.

9.00 a.m.: Brisk voting has been reported across the country in the first two hours of the poll.

7:02 a.m.: Voting to elect the 9th Executive President of the country commenced a while ago as thousands of Sri Lankans are lined up in front of queues to cast their votes in their respective polling stations across the country.