Prez poll: 33 candidates forfeit deposit

November 19, 2024

political Current Affairs

Prez poll: 33 candidates forfeit deposit

November 20, 2019

A special feature of the just concluded Presidential election was that 33 out of the total 35 candidates who contested had forfeited their election deposits.This is by failing to muster the stipulated minimum 5 percent of the total votes cast.Only the two main candidates were able to muster votes above the stipulated 5 percent.The SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa who won the election polled 52.25 percent of total votes cast while the NDF candidate Sajith Premadasa who came second polled 41.99 percent of the total votes cast.

National Peoples’ Power candidate and JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who emerged third in the contest, also forfeited his deposit because he only mustered 3.16 percent of the total votes cast.A candidate contesting the election from a registered political party had to make an election deposit of Rs. 50,000 while each independent candidate had to make a deposit of Rs. 75,000.

There were a total of 1,599,2096 registered voters at the Presidential election this year. Of this, only 1,338,7951, amounting to 83.72 per cent, cast their votes. Of this, 1,325,2499 or 98.99 percent were considered valid votes while 135,452 or 1.01 percent of the votes were rejected.

Altogether 35 candidates contested the Presidential election this year recording the highest number of candidates in the history of Presidential elections.The longest ballot paper in Sri Lankan Presidential election history was also recorded this year and this was one reason that caused a heavy election expenditure, according to Election Commission sources.