Former MP Sujeewa Senasinghe has raised legal concerns regarding the handling of the 2024 presidential election vote count.
According to election law, if no candidate reaches 50% of the vote, the results of the first count must be publicly announced, and officials must be informed of each candidate’s results, Senasinghe said.
However, Senasinghe alleged that counting officers from his party were asked to withdraw after the first ballot count, which violates the requirement for officials to be present during the second count.
“The process of counting preferential votes must begin in the presence of these officials, but there was no prior announcement of this, and they have now started counting preferential votes,” he said.
After the Election Commission was informed of this issue, the officials acknowledged that a mistake had been made, Senasinghe said. “This is a significant legal error, as officials have not conducted themselves in this manner before,” Senasinghe said.
His remarks come after several SJB members expressed concerns about the behaviour of certain election officials at various counting centres. (Newswire)
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