Minor candidates fare badly

PRESIDENTIAL elections have been held previously in 1982, 1988, 1994 and 1999. This election marked an increase in the registered number of voters over the last Presidential Poll when there were only 11,779,200 voters.

In 1999, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga received 51.12 per cent of the vote, gaining 4,312,157 votes. Wickremesinghe gained 3,602,748 votes (42.71 per cent) while the JVP's Nandana Gunatilake received 344,173 votes.

At the 2004 General Election, the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) obtained 4,223,970 votes while the UNP obtained 3,504,200 votes. The TNA obtained 633,654 votes. The JHU gained 552,724 votes while the SLMC gained 186,876.

At this Presidential Election, the UPFA has received 663,182 more votes than it did last year. The UNP has also increased its votes by nearly 1.2 million votes.

At this election, the 11 minor candidates fared very badly, collectively gaining less around 100,000 votes from the whole island.

Siritunga Jayasuriya was the third placed candidate with 35,425 votes and Achala Asoka Suraweera was fourth, with 31,238 votes. Victor Hettigoda, who many expected to perform better, obtained only 14,458 votes.

Chamil Jayanetti 9,296 votes, Wimal Geeganage (6,639), Aruna de Soysa (7,685), Anura de Silva (6,357) and Ajith Kumara Jayaweera (5,082) managed to get more than 5,000 votes. Shantha Dharmawaja came last with 1,316 votes, a mere 0.01% of total votes cast.