• Note that invalid votes were tied to voter edu. shortcomings, call for increased presence of snr. female election officials 

Commonwealth Election observers highlighted a lack of voter education when it came to the preferential voting system followed in the 2024 Presidential Election.

“We have noted that there is a need for greater voter education, including dedicated educational programmes demonstrating the preferential voting system, which led to confusion about how the system works and how voters cast their ballots in order of preference,” the Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group and the former President of Seychelles, Danny Faure, said at a press conference yesterday (23). Faure further responded to queries by The Daily Morning stating that the main cause for a large number of invalid votes is due to poor voter education on the voting process. 

“We will address this in detail later but the issue of invalid votes is mainly due to a lack of voter education on the process of voting,” Faure said.

However, he commended the Election Commission (EC) and other stakeholders on the efforts to educate voters on the process of casting their vote, stating that their efforts surpassed other Elections. Prior to the Poll, the EC conducted several awareness programmes and issued publications on the voting process, including informing voters of the preferential vote.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Election observers also noted that although there was a strong female presence among Poll workers, there was a lack of senior female election officials in comparison to senior male officials.

The Presidential Election took place on 21 September with the announcement of the ninth Executive President, National People’s Power candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, on 22 September. Dissanyake won 42.31% of the vote while the runner-up Samagi Jana Balawegaya candidate, Sajith Premadasa, won 32.76%. The Election has been praised by observers as a peaceful Election.