There were large queues at several urban polling booths as voters turned up in large numbers to cast their votes in the Presidential election. This is the first national election in the country since the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May.
Voting began at 7:00 am (0130 GMT) in some 11,000 polling stations with 14 million people registered to vote. Polling is to end at 4:00 pm.

Reports from provinces indicate medium to heavy polling by mid-day.

Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa, 64, representing the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) who seeks reelection cast his vote at Medamulana polling booth this morning.

The election monitoring body PAFFREL said in a statement that there were no reports of incidents of violence in the morning hours.

A total of 14,088,500 eligible voters will cast their ballot in 11,098 centres throughout the country. Colombo District has the largest number of voters (1,521,854) and Trincomalee the smallest (241,133).

President Rajapaksa called for presidential polls two years ahead of the end of his six-year term stating that he wanted a fresh mandate after the liberation of the north and east where no peaceful election could be held in the past few elections.

The counting of ballots is due to commence on late evening.

Results will be released after midnight and the final results are expected by Wednesday morning.