For Those About To Vote
For me, voting involves asking my Achchi (grandmother) if I’m registered. Then I just show up there, have breakfast and we both go vote. In certain areas, especially IDP areas this is not straightforward. You have to show government ID, which many people don’t have. Barring that, you need get a temporary ID card through the Grama Niladhari (government agent).
These are pretty simple instructions, but a lot of people (especially in the North and East) may be voting for the first time. Hence it’s good that this basic campaign is going on in all three languages. You can download, print and disseminate the graphics from here.
I’ve only voted once, but my tips would be to read the instructions, listen to your grandmother, etc. This is Presidential so you don’t have to remember numbers, just check the Betel Leaf or Swan. I’ll be checking Swan, for Sarath Fonseka. How anybody votes is up to them, but I hope you do.
Your forgetting the others.. not only Swan and Beetle leaf.. :p
The Third one is a kangaroo! :D Hialrious!
I think people need also to be educated about the importance of casting their vote and also how the preferential votes work. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there a preferential vote that can be cast too? Other than you main vote that is.
For the Presidential, I don’t think so. There’s only one candidate per party. Not sure, but that seems to make sense
U can vote for up to 2 people (from different parties). If any single candidate fails to get more than 50%, then preferential votes (2nd choice) will be used.
Correct me if I’m wrong
MUST READ!!
‘Fonseka becoming Lankan President will be disastrous for India’
Razik Zarook, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s Counsel and a close confidante of the Sri Lankan leader, has warned that if former Army General Sarath Fonseka who successfully prosecuted the war against the LTTE and is now challenging Rajapakse for the presidency in the election to be held January 26, is elected, it would be disastrous not just for Sri Lanka, but the region as a whole, particularly India.
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com’s Aziz Haniffa, Zarook, former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the erstwhile Yugoslavia and Hungary and the island nation’s ex High Commissioner to Singapore, who was on a private visit to Washington, DC, also disclosed India’s role in providing strategic intelligence to the Sri Lankan military that was invaluable to defeating the LTTE.
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jan/08/slide-show-1-interview-with-razik-zarook.htm#contentTop
@Suresh, @Indi : yes, there is a preference. You can also vote for your second choice.
if neither of the main candidates get 50%+, then there will be a second count, in which the 2nd preferences on all the ballots will be counted.
Not only 2. There are 3.