2024 Presidential Election Sri Lanka

Onlanka.com, a premier Sri Lankan news website, published the live results of the 2024 Presidential Election in Sri Lanka.

The election was held on September 21, 2024. Voting commenced at 7:00 AM at 13,421 polling stations across the country and concluded at 4:00 PM on the same day.

A total of 17,140,354 voters were eligible to cast their ballots, including 1,148,258 new voters. This election also saw 712,318 postal voters, with all but 6,200 postal ballots marked.

Postal voting took place on September 4, 5, and 6, 2024, with additional postal voting allowed on September 11 and 12, 2024, for those who were unable to vote earlier, as per the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.

Under Sri Lanka's electoral rules, voters can mark their second- and third-choice candidates. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the second-preference votes are added to the totals of the two leading candidates to determine the winner.

For the first time in Sri Lankan history, the counting of second-preference votes in a presidential election commenced on September 22, 2024.

A total of 40 candidates made their deposits: 22 from recognized political parties, one from other political parties, and 17 independent candidates.

Nominations were accepted on August 15, 2024, with 39 of the 40 candidates successfully submitting their nominations.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe submitted his nomination as an independent candidate and ran under the Gas Cylinder symbol, while Sajith Premadasa filed his nomination under the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party.

National People's Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake submitted his nomination as the NPP candidate, and Namal Rajapaksa filed his nomination as the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate.

The people of Sri Lanka closely monitored the election results due to their potential impact on the country’s political and economic future, especially in light of ongoing economic challenges and international relations.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake became the 9th Executive President of Sri Lanka, sworn in on September 23, 2024, at the Presidential Secretariat before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya.

In the presidential election, Dissanayake won with 5,634,915 votes, representing 42.31% of the total vote.