The Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake says that the first results of the 2024 presidential election, which commenced today (21), will be released before 12.00 midnight.

Speaking to the media, Ratnayake noted that the counting of votes across all centers nationwide is expected to begin between 08.00 p.m. and 09.00 p.m. today.

He further clarified that the vote counting in each polling station will commence only after all the respective ballot boxes have been delivered to the counting centers.

Meanwhile, the Elections Commissioner General mentioned that this year’s presidential election has seen a significant number of postal voters, with 712,318 registered for postal voting and that all except 6,200 registered postal voters had casted their votes.

Furthermore, he stated that the counting of postal votes will begin at 429 designated counting centers across the island after 04.00 p.m.