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Voters
throughout Sri Lanka will wend their way to polling
stations December 5, to elect 196 representatives to the
12th Parliament of Sri Lanka.
The
last Parliament was dissolved on October 10, after
completing only one year of its six-year term. The
dissolution came
after nine members of the ruling People’s Alliance
defected to the opposition lending support to an
opposition United National Party sponsored no-confidence
motion which was to have been debated on October 11.
The
Parliamentary Elections are conducted under the
Proportional Representation System as laid down in Sri
Lanka’s Constitution enacted in 1978.
Of
the 225 seats in Parliament, elected representatives
will occupy 196 seats while the other 29 seats will be
allocated to nominees of various competing political
parties according to a complex formula based on the
total number of votes polled by each party.
Sri
Lanka has 22 Electoral Districts. Voting will take place
at 9,981 Polling Stations in the 9,544 Polling
Divisions. There are 12,428,762 persons eligible to vote
at this election.
Forty-Nine
political parties are registered with The Commissioner
of Elections.
Special
arrangements have been made for the convenience of
voters affected or displaced by the war in the northern
and eastern parts of the country.
Fifty-three
international observers will monitor this election.
Counting
of votes will commence at the designated counting
centers in each district after all Ballot Boxes have
been received and inspected.
The
announcement of Official Results by the Commissioner of
Elections is expected to commence early Thursday and
continue through the day.
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