New voter registration system for those reaching 18 years

The new system to register persons above 18 years as voters soon as they complete the eligibility to vote gets underway from February 01. 

The Commissioner-General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said that according to the new system those who complete the age of 18 will be registered every four months, instead of the previous system where they would have to wait for a year to register.

Explaining the system, he said those completing the age limit of 18 would have to register and the Elections Commission will take steps to register through the Grama Sevaka within a 10 day period and accordingly include the name into a supplementary list.

He said that an estimated 250,000 new voters are usually added to the list annually. The registration process in the first round which commences on February 1 will continue until end of May, the second round from July to

September and a third-round from October to January. Under the previous system, the registration of voters took place only between June 1 to June 30 and thereby a person who completes 18 years after June needed to wait until the next year to get his or her name included in the electoral register. 

The new system has been made possible due to electoral registration amendments passed in Parliament last year.