Sharp drop in turnout at PC polls : The Sunday Times

A low voter turnout was the highlight of yesterday’s polls for the Southern and Western Provincial Councils.

50-55 per cent voter turn out-Officials

There was a 55 to 60 per cent voter turn out at today’s Provincial Council Elections held in the Southern and Western Provinces, election officials said a short while ago.

They said the lowest voter turnout was in the Colombo district with 49 per cent while the highest was recorded in the Hambantota District with 61 per cent.

The voter turn out in the Matara District was 58 per cent, 55 per cent in Galle the District, 57 per cent in the Gampaha District and 58 per cent in Kalutara District, they added.

These figures were also supported by the independent polls monitoring group-the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PaFFREL)
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Sharp drop in turnout at PC polls

A low voter turnout was the highlight of yesterday’s polls for the Southern and Western Provincial Councils.
Whilst the average polling for most districts was around 55 per cent, the biggest district of Colombo recorded a drastic low, according to figures from the Department of Elections.

Barring one clash in Beruwala between supporters of the UPFA and the UNP, no major incidents were reported, police said. Four people were injured in the Beruwala clash. The polling took place in 4,243 centres across the two provinces where more than 5.8 million people were eligible to vote. A total of 155

members will be elected to the two provincial councils — 102 to the WPC and 53 to the SPC. More than 3,700 candidates from 81 political parties and 42 independent groups contested the poll.

There was a sharp drop in the polling this year compared to the polls held to the two councils in 2009. That year there was a 63 per cent turnout in the Western Province and 70 per cent in the Southern Province. There was tight security yesterday with more than 12,000 police personnel deployed for election-related
duties

Playing numbers game near polling centres

Openly violating election laws, supporters of various candidates are seen near a polling centre in Grandpass, Colombo, pestering voters to vote for particular candidates at yesterday’s elections to the Western and Southern Provincial Councils. Pic by Indika Handuwala