PRESIDENT LEADS POSTAL VOTING:

Quiet poll

Wijitha Nakkawita

*Large turnout in most areas

*Large turnout in most areas:

*Election peaceful, says Opposition Leader:

The election to elect the Sixth Executive President of Sri Lanka was peaceful in all parts of the country. Polling started at 7.00 a.m in all 22 electoral districts and concluded by 4.00 p.m yesterday. Polling was brisk in most districts except in the North that was experiencing an election under peaceful conditions after a lapse of over three decades.

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told the media that the polling was quite peaceful everywhere including Jaffna, Vanni and Vavuniya.

The Hambantota district had nearly 61 percent voter turnout by noon while Matara and Galle Districts also recorded 51 percent and 50 percent respectively. Even remote districts like Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Moneragala, Digamadulla, Batticaloa, Kegalle, and Ratnapura districts had a high voter turnout. Police spokesman SSP I. M. Karunaratne told the Daily News yesterday that except for a few minor incidents reported in a few areas there was no violence reported during the poll.

Nuwara Eliya District had witnessed a 70 percent voter turnout at 2.00 pm while Batticaloa reported 40 percent by noon yesterday. The lowest voter turnout was reported from the Jaffna electoral division of 5 percent by 2.00 pm.

In all the other districts too polling was brisk in the morning and an average of over 70 percent poll was expected when the poll ended at 4.00 p.m Yesterday’s presidential election was by far the most peaceful election in recent times and sufficient security in and around the polling stations was provided by the police and mobile police patrols were also deployed to prevent any untoward or violent incidents.