Curfew imposed in Sri Lanka following presidential election

COLOMBO: A curfew has been imposed in Sri Lanka from 10 pm tonight to 6 am on Sunday as a precaution to prevent any untoward incident following the presidential election, police said. President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued a gazette imposing the curfew order.

The curfew announcement came as the counting of votes is being held. The first results are yet to be declared.

The voter turnout in the presidential election is estimated to be around 75 per cent, according to an official.

Director General Elections Saman Sri Ratnayaka announced that the voter turnout in the presidential election is expected to be 75 per cent, which would be lower than the 83 per cent voter turnout recorded in the previous presidential election held in November 2019.

The polls were held from 7 am to 4 pm local time at over 13,400 polling stations at 22 electoral districts.

Over 17 million registered voters were expected to vote in the election which had the highest number of candidates with 38 in the fray.