Presidential Election on January 26
Nominations on December 17:
Wijitha NAKKAWITA
The Presidential Election will be held on January 26, 2010.
Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake |
Nominations will be accepted from 9.00 a.m to 11.00 a.m on December
17, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake announced yesterday.
This will be the country’s fifth Presidential poll to elect the sixth
Executive President.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is the incumbent in office decided to
go for a Presidential election though his term of office expires only
two years later in November 2011.
When he met the media at Temple Trees on Thursday morning he said he
chose to seek a fresh mandate for a second term on the request of the
party supporters and people.
Objections against nominations can be raised from 9.00 am to 11.30 on
the same day. Objections to the nomination papers could be raised by any
of the rival candidates or by persons who had signed the nomination
paper, the official release said.
All candidates of recognized political parties should make deposits
of Rs 50,000 and independent candidates Rs 75,000 before noon on the day
of the nominations with the Accountant (Finance) of the Department of
Elections.
It is mandatory that a candidate other than those of recognized
political parties should confirm that he/she had been elected a member
of the legislature by a letter signed by the Secretary-General of
Parliament, the official release said.
The 2008 electoral register will be used for the election with a
total number of 14,088,500 persons eligible to vote. |