33 of 35 candidates lose their deposits

Tuesday, 19 November 2019 00:25 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Only GR and SP get over 5% of vote
AKD comes third but receives only 3.16%
83.72% of registered voters cast their ballot on Saturday

Thirty-three of the 35 candidates who contested Saturday’s Presidential Election lost their deposits, having failed to get 5% of the valid votes cast.

Only the two leading candidates, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) Gotabaya Rajapaksa (52.25%) and New Democratic Front’s (NDF) Sajith Premadasa (41.99%) secured over 5% of the vote.

Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, who contested from the National People’s Power (NPP), secured the third highest number of votes, but it accounted for only 3.16% of the total votes polled.

Candidates have to pay Rs. 50,000 as a deposit if they are contesting from a political party while those contesting from independent groups have to pay Rs. 75,000 each.

Of a total of 15,992,096 registered votes, 13,387,951 votes or 83.72% of the voters used their ballot on Saturday.

Of this number, 13,252,499 or 98.99% were valid votes with only 135,452 or 1.01 % comprising rejected votes.

New PM, Cabinet likely after tomorrow