Analysis: Record low turnout at Parliamentary polls

By Mimi Alphonsus & Tharushi Weerasinghe

Over 5.3 million registered voters failed to participate in yesterday’s Parliamentary elections as the island-wide voter turnout reached a record low since 2010.

In the 2020 parliamentary election, 3.9 million people failed to vote, while in this election that number increased by 1.4 million. 

At yesterday’s polls, 11.8 million voted with an islandwide turnout of 68.93 per cent. 

Over 550,000 people did not engage in the electoral process in the electoral district of Gampaha and a similar number failed to turn up in Colombo.

In Kurunegala, 438,299 did not vote, while in Mahanuwara, 355,472 failed to turn up at polling stations. 

There were also 667,240 rejected votes this year, about 80,000 less than in 2020. 
Nuwara Eliya (42195) and Jaffna (32767) experienced the highest rate of ballot rejections at over 9%

"The NPP worked hard and, in actuality, began their campaign a few years before the election was even announced - this is why their voters showed up to the polling booths when the Opposition voters did not," said Dr. Jayatissa de Costa, President's Counsel and Elections Analyst. 

He held that disheartened opposition party supporters most likely abstained from voting, resulting in the low turnout rates.  (Read more analysis reports on the coming Sunday edition of the Sunday Times)