Sri Lanka has decided on whom it wants to lead the troubled island nation for the next five years. On the horizon, nearly a month and a half away is the General Election which will elect the next batch of Sri Lankan lawmakers. There has been globally, a wave against the incumbent political order. This is a global phenomenon and Sri Lanka is no exception. Sri Lanka too has been seeking a ‘system change’ since 2022. Sri Lankan democracy has stood the test of time and survived and evolved.

However, one point of concern which arose from the 21 September Presidential Election is the lack of voter turnout. If Sri Lanka is to make the Presidential Election and the upcoming General Election the basis for a turning point in the nation’s governance style and political culture, it is essential to get more eligible voters to cast their ballot. Voting is the only effective weapon citizens have. For Sri Lankans, it is something we have had since 1931 and has been the cornerstone in our democracy since we gained independence in 1948. Sri Lanka must be a participatory democracy, and everyone ought to vote. Otherwise, you end up becoming a victim of someone else’s choice.

The magnitude of the issue is large. According to the Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake over 3,500,000 Sri Lankan citizens who are eligible to vote, did not cast their votes during the 2024. Ratnayake stated that out of the 17,140,354 registered voters, a total of 13,619,916 have cast their votes in the Presidential Election which is 79.46%, while 3,520,438 (21.54%) did not vote. Meanwhile, approximately 300,300 (2.2%) votes were rejected. According to the EC votes had been rejected due to many voters being confused or unaware of how the preferential votes can be marked on the ballot paper. Thus, cumulatively 23.74% of the eligible voters’ choice was not reflected during the last Presidential Election. 

Sri Lanka must act quickly to ensure that such numbers are not reflected again at the General Election. With Sri Lanka poised for major changes in its system of governance and political culture, it is vital that such changes happen with a mandate that is derived from broad participation of the citizenry.

Many eligible voters who had not voted at the last election that The Daily Morning spoke to, pointed to three main reasons for not voting. Firstly, many complained about having to travel to their villages to cast their votes which according to them was a costly affair that they cannot afford to bear, especially in the current economic climate. “I am from Ampara. I will have to travel with my wife and mother-in-law by bus to cast my ballot. The round trip will take at least three days and cost me at least Rs 15,000 to do so. I can’t afford that. So, we decided not to vote,” a Colombo-based private sector employee said. A retired postmaster told The Daily Morning that while he did travel to his local electoral centre to vote, he found it difficult to climb multiple steps to reach the centre and thus, turned back. Several Sri Lankans living overseas complained that the Government should consider postal voting for them, as they are registered with Sri Lankan missions in the respective countries they reside in. Expanding postal votes and simplifying the application process for such voting, may encourage many, both domestic and overseas to cast their ballot at elections. Further, the Election Commission should consider improving accessibility at polling booths for the elderly and the differently abled persons.

Meanwhile, the election watchdog People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) yesterday (26) recommended multiple measures to reduce the scale of voter absenteeism. “We need to have a practical voting system such as the expansion of the advanced postal vote system and the introduction of electronic voting.” However, the Election Commission (EC) has stated that introducing electronic voting is not likely in the near future as Sri Lanka lacks the funding for such and has highlighted the need for new laws to be introduced in order to accommodate e-voting. As such, expanding the current postal voting system to become more inclusive of Sri Lankan voters, both in country and overseas may be the cheapest, quickest means to help bring more voters to cast their ballot.