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After Elections Commission Chairman RLAM Ratnayake announced a second preference count for Sri Lankan presidential elections, National People's Power (NPP) candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake, topped the first round of counting with 5,634,915 votes (42.31 per cent), according to a report by the Daily Mirror.
The Election Commission Chairman further informed that Sajith Premadasa, leader of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) received 4,363,035 votes (32.76 per cent) and Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the United National Party, received 2,299,767 votes (17.27 per cent). Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won the Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Hambantota, Ratnapura, Galle and Colombo districts so far, while Sajith Premadasa has topped the voting in Jaffna, Vanni, Trincomalee and Digamadulla districts. Notably, the decision of a second preference count came after early trends had shown Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the National People's Power (NPP), leading the presidential polls. Ratnayake announced that a second preference count would be conducted, as no candidate secured over 50 per cent of the votes in the Presidential election, in line with the Presidential Elections Act of 1981. According to the Presidential Elections Act of 1981, when no candidate has received more than one-half of the valid votes cast, the returning officer shall eliminate from the contest the candidate who has received the lowest number of votes, and the second preference of each member whose vote had been for the candidate eliminated from the contest shall be counted as a vote for the candidate for whom such preference is recorded and shall be added to the votes already counted in his favour. Earlier, as per the last trends, Dissanayake got 49.8 per cent votes, while Sajith Premadasa got 25.8 per cent votes, followed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, who mustered 16.4 per cent votes. Notably, polling was held on Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm local time in 22 electoral districts. (ANI)
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