By: Isuru Parakrama
September 24, Colombo (LNW): The Election Commission has officially announced that 35 presidential candidates will lose their security deposits after failing to meet the required vote threshold in the recently concluded 2024 presidential election.
Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake clarified that these candidates did not secure at least 12.5 per cent of the vote, a prerequisite for retaining their deposits.
With a voter turnout of over 79 per cent, the participation in this election marked a slight decline compared to the 83 per cent turnout in 2019.
Despite the high engagement, many candidates struggled to capture the necessary support to meet the eligibility criteria for deposit refunds.
The forfeit of security deposits is a standard procedure in Sri Lanka’s electoral system, designed to ensure that only candidates with a reasonable level of public backing are incentivised to contest in the elections.
