14 million voters for Presidential Polls

by L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

The number of voters at the forthcoming Presidential Election has increased by 761,340 from the previous Presidential Election. According to the revised electoral registers of 2008, the total voters at the forthcoming Presidential Election would be around 14,088,500 as against 13,327,160 during the Presidential Election of 2005.The nine provinces in the island have 22 electoral districts. The Northern and Eastern Provinces have five electoral districts - Jaffna, Wanni, Batticaloa, Digamadulla and Trincomalee.

Twenty four electoral seats come under the Northern and Eastern provinces and the number of voters in the five districts is 2,003,746. A large number of people in these provinces had left their homes due to the three-decade-old conflict.

After the humanitarian operation came to an end in May 2009, the number of Internally Displaced Persons reached 302,249. Most have since been resettled by the Government in their original places of residence.

There is an expatriate population of more than one million, and at present they do not have the opportunity to cast their votes in an election unless they return to Sri Lanka during this period, a spokesman for the Elections Department said.