Second Round of Vote Counting to Determine the Winner Sri Lanka's Presidential Election

Anura Kumara Dissanayake and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa 

No candidate received the required 51 percent of the vote in Sri Lanka's presidential election. As a result, the second round of voting is being counted to determine the winner. This was confirmed by the country's Election Commission Chairman RLAM Ratnayake. 

Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on Saturday (September 21). Then the counting of votes started. But no candidate got the required 51 percent of the vote. According to data released by the Election Commission, left-wing politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake got 39.5 percent of the vote.

Then opposition party leader Sajith Premadasa got 34 percent votes. The incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe got only 17 percent. Sri Lanka's electoral system allows voters to vote for up to three candidates of their choice on a ballot paper. if a candidate does not get 51 percent of the votes in the first count, a second round counting would be needed. 

In that case the winner will be determined by taking into consideration the top two candidates. Accordingly, the second round of counting of votes is taking into account the two main candidates Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the opposition Sajith Premadasa. 

On Sunday (September 22), Election Commission Chairman Ratnayake also said the same. Apart from the two top contenders Anur Kumara Dishanayake of the NPP and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, the rest of the candidates have dropped out, the official said. 

Explaining the matter, he said, 'those who voted for those two candidates as second choice candidates will now be counted.' According to the report of the state media News LK, there are 35 names of candidates on the presidential election ballot paper. 

Voters mark their preferred candidates by writing one, two and three next to their name. But voters can also choose a candidate if they want. In that case, instead of 1, 2 and 3, X should be given next to the candidate's name. According to analysts, Anur Dishanayake will win even after this counting of votes.

The presidential election has effectively become a 'referendum' on the unpopular IMF loan. Early poll results show that 55-year-old Anura Dishanayake is on track to become the island nation's first left-wing head of state. 

About 76 percent of the votes have been cast in the country of 17.1 million voters. Officials said that the final results will be announced by Sunday.