Articles about voting issues in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan government has taken measures to introduce an electronic voting system to the country, a government minister revealed. Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has told parliament that the government has taken immediate measures to formulate the relevant legal amendments to introduce electronic voting. 
Sri Lanka is planning to amend its elections law so as to enable electronic voting, according to China’s Xinhua news agency citing Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya on Monday. Speaking to media, the official said said that the government is considering to amend the current election law so that it would be possible to initiate electronic voting instead of the laborious hand counting system that is in practice now. ”Large amounts of public money are spent on elections as they are done manually with the entire process needing many people and resources,” said Deshapriya.
Elections Commissioner of Sri Lanka Mahinda Deshapriya says that en electronic voting system needs to be introduced to the country. Speaking during a workshop at the BMICH, Deshapriya has observed that a large sum of money and human resources had to be invested under the current voting system. He has called on all political parties to make the necessary amendments to the Elections Act in order to enable the introduction of an electronic voting system.
The Elections Commissioner’s Department of Sri Lanka is to hold a series of discussions and seminars at district level to discuss and receive proposals on the introduction of an electronic voting system for the country.
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has decided to hold the series of discussions in three stages.
Fanning the flame of speculation regarding an electronic voting system for Sri Lankans, Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga publicly stated last week that the Government planned to introduce such a system in a bid to promote “democratic engagement” among citizens.
Making this comment as the keynote speaker at a recent event on electronic governance, the two-day FutureGov Forum Sri Lanka 2011, which was held in Colombo; he also asserted that the “whole idea of expediting government processes is to save time of citizens.
It also saves time for the public servant. The additional time available for citizens can be therefore spent productively – to engage with family members, community and voluntary work and more importantly, to live a contented life, the dream of every human being.”
The Elections Commissioner said yesterday that measures had been taken to deploy an additional number of officials to vulnerable polling stations located in areas where a high number of complaints concerning election violence had been reported.
Speaking at a media briefing held at the Elections Department yesterday, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said that polling stations located in Kaduwela, Warakapola, Minuwangoda, Attanagalle, Wilgamuwa and Chilaw would receive special attention, and the presence of Elections Department officials in those places would be increased.
