Less enthusiasm for postal voting

Election monitoring groups said they witnessed less enthusiasm among public sector employees for postal voting that commenced today.

The first day of postal voting went through without any incidents of violations.

Postal voting took place in District Secretariats, Election Commission Offices, and the office of Inspector General Police as well as in all police stations island wide.

 Election monitors expressed concern that there was less enthusiasm among state offices to cast their votes for parliamentary election compared to the presidential election.

PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Times online that the postal voting held today went ahead peacefully.

He added that they are deploying 1000 election monitoring groups to monitor postal voting during the days dedicated for postal voting.

Meanwhile Manjula Gajanayake, Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) too said that the postal voting was held without any incidents.

According to his observations he said that he had witnessed a lack of enthusiasm among voters to vote.

He added that the political parties contesting elections too have slowed down their campaigns, while the general public who openly expressed their views on presidential elections have become more reserved about the candidates which they were voting for.

The postal voting for tri forces and other state are officers on November 01, November 04.

Apart from that special postal voting dates were also announced by the Election Commission on November 7 and 08 for the persons who were unable to cast their votes on October 30, November 01 and 04.