The process for determining the winner of the presidential election involves several key steps, according to R. M. A. L. Ratnayake, Chairman of the Election Commission. The official announcement of the winner will occur after the completion of all counting and verification procedures.
The counting of postal votes is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. on the day of the election. This will be followed by the opening and counting of ballot boxes from polling stations. The ballot boxes will be transported to counting centers across various districts, where the counting is scheduled to start at approximately 7:00 p.m.
In preparation for the count, the Election Commission has arranged for postal vote counting to start at around 4:15 p.m. This timing ensures that postal votes are accounted for before the bulk of the counting begins. The counting will be conducted at district-level centers, which will handle the votes from their respective areas.
During the counting process, each ballot box will first be verified for its total number of votes. After this initial tally, the votes will be distributed according to the number of votes each candidate has received. The Election Commission will perform detailed checks to ensure that the vote counts are accurate and reflect the total number of ballots cast.
If no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the total votes in the initial count, the process will proceed to a second stage. In this stage, the two candidates with the highest vote counts will advance to the next phase of counting. All other candidates will be eliminated from consideration. This process is designed to ensure that the final winner has a clear majority.
Ratnayake emphasized that the counting process will be transparent and conducted with the utmost accuracy to ensure a fair and credible result. The results from each district will be compiled and verified before the final announcement of the winner.
