Postal voting begins amid new COVID-19 threat

The voting will go on for 5 days with two days reserved next week for those who fail to cast their vote this week. Over 700,000 officers who will be on election duty on August 5 are eligible to cast their vote.

The election authorities said the voting in the north central town of Rajanganaya was indefinitely postponed due to a COVID-19 threat. According to the health officials, a cluster has been forming in the area since last week with the infections from a drug rehabilitation center at Kandakadu in Polonnaruwa district.

Nearly 500 new infections, including 70 students, were detected from the Kandakadu cluster. Around 600 close contacts of those who tested positive have been sent for quarantine.

With the growing threat from the new cluster, the government shut schools this week, while main election rallies have been cancelled. The schools were only opened last week after the lockdown.

All election rallies of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have been cancelled temporarily, the Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP) announced on Sunday, following a surge in coronavirus cases.

Although the Elections Commission has said that the election will not be postponed again, a meeting to be held this week will assess the new COVID-19 threat.