Sri Lanka presidential election goes to historic second count after no candidate secured over 50% vote

Police commandos stand guard, as a countrywide curfew was imposed then, outside a ballot counting center during the presidential election in Colombo, on September 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

In a historic first, Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Sunday (September 22, 2024) went into a second round of counting after no candidate secured over 50% vote needed to be declared the winner.

The latest results showed Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party’s broader front National People’s Power (NPP) had won 39.52% of the votes counted.

Sri Lanka elections result LIVE

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya is in second place with nearly 34.28% of the total vote.

Sri Lankans voted on Saturday (September 21, 2024) to elect a new president in the first election since the economic meltdown in 2022.

Election Commission Chairman R M A L Rathnayake said that Dissanayake and Premadasa have secured maximum votes in the 2024 presidential election.

However, he said that as neither has secured more than 50% vote, the second preference vote will be counted and added to these two candidates.

Voters in Sri Lanka elect a single winner by ranking up to three candidates in order of preference. If a candidate receives an absolute majority, they will be declared the winner. If not, a second round of counting will commence, with second and third-choice votes then taken into account.

Mr. Rathnayake said the new President will be declared elected after the cumulative votes and preference votes are counted.

He also said that the remaining candidates will not be considered for the preference vote.

Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist JVP’s broader front National People’s Power (NPP), is leading in the cumulative votes.

The National People’s Power (NPP) leader was earlier heading for a clear win but his cumulative votes dropped when most of the votes were counted.

No election in Sri Lanka has ever progressed to the second round of counting, as single candidates have always emerged as clear winners based on first-preference votes.