Firing in the Presidential Elections of Sri Lanka

Polling started at 7 am at 12,845 polling stations will end at 5 pm. There are about 16 million voters there.
Image Credit: ANI News
Image Credit: ANI News

Voting is going on across the country on Saturday to elect Sri Lanka's eighth president. It is mainly contested between Sajit Premadasa of the ruling New Democratic Front (NDF) and Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). Polling started at 7 am at 12,845 polling stations will end at 5 pm. There are about 16 million voters there.

Firing on buses filled with voters
Unidentified gunmen opened indiscriminate firing on two buses carrying voters in Sri Lanka's Mannar district on Saturday. Voting is going on today for the presidential election across the country. According to reports, the police said that no voter was injured and an investigation into the incident has been started.

Record 35 candidates in the field
This time, 35 candidates are in the fray. 1.59 crore voters of Sri Lanka will exercise their franchise in the election and choose one of the 35 candidates to succeed the current President Maithripala Sirisena. Apart from Rajapaksa and Premadasa, the other important candidates are Marxist Janat Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or Anura Kumara Disenayaka of the People's Liberation Front and Mahesh Senanayake of the National People's Movement (NPM), who retired in August 2019 after serving for 36 years in the army were.

This election is considered important for the future of Sri Lanka, given the political polarization and security challenges that followed the Easter day bombings. The ruling party's United National Party (UNP) candidate Premadasa trusts his 'Aam Aadmi leader' image which he inherited from his father. However, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is also reminding Premadasa's father's authoritarian image in his election campaign. He says that no one wants to return to Premadasa's reign of terror.

Rajapaksa is campaigning in favor of his younger brother Gotabaya. Gotabaya senior ministry officials have done this. He led a military campaign against the LTTE.

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