Columbo: Sri Lanka will vote tomorrow to elect 225 members for its 16th parliament with strict health guidelines amidst COVID situation.
The voting will begin at 7 AM in the morning and continue till 5 PM.
The counting of votes will be held on Friday and results are expected by late evening on that day.
Over 7450 candidates are in fray for parliament seats while around 1.62 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise at around 13 thousand polling booths.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former PM Ranil Wickremsinghe and former President Maithripala Sirisena are among the main contestants to enter the parliament.
The elections were postponed twice after the COVID outbreak as parliament was dissolved in early March, six months before its term ended as President Gotabaya Rajapksa was seeking clear majority in parliament for his party.
Extensive arrangements are being made in view of COVID outbreak and all the polling booths are being disinfected before the polling begins.
Sri Lanka has only around 400 active COVID cases and the affected people will miss the voting tomorrow.
Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya has asserted that steps have been taken to ensure that COVID infection does not spread through polling stations.
He said the voters are allowed to bring their own blue or black pen to cast their preferences and will be provided a disinfected pen if not having themselves.
