Page 160 - Conducting Elections during COVID-19

142 INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF CONDUCTING ELECTIONS DURING COVID-19

Sri Lanka

Parliamentary Elections 2020

Parliamentary elections were held on 5 August 2020 in Sri Lanka to elect 225 members to the country’s
16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young
voters.
On 19 March 2020, Sri Lanka reported an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases but the government
went ahead with nominations for the election until 18 March 2020. On 19 March, soon after the
nominations ended, the Elections Commission with its powers postponed the elections.
The election was postponed twice due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country. The proposed
election date which was initially fixed for 25 April 2020 was pushed back until 20 June 2020 due to
the virus outbreak. It was later postponed further to its final date. Finally elections were conducted on
5 August 2020.
Sri Lanka joined the list of countries such as Poland, South Korea, Singapore, Syria and Serbia to have
held the elections in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sri Lanka is also the first South Asian
nation to hold elections in the middle of the pandemic.

Prior to the election, the health authorities made special arrangements regarding the safety of the
voters by disinfecting the polling station including the internal and external booths of the station with
sanitizers.
Prior to the election, a coronavirus-proof mock election was conducted by the Election Commission in
June 2020 as a trial run in order to comply with health guidelines.
Precautions taken to conduct the elections

To prevent the elections becoming a public health hazard, the EC had held mock elections. The Sri
Lankan government had issued health guidelines that included limiting the number of people engaged
in door-to-door campaigning to five people. Only 300 participants were allowed to attend meetings
— which were increased to 500 if a party leader attended it. All the participants were to maintain one-
metre distance and judiciously use hand sanitizers, masks and gloves. The Medical Officer of Health
(MoH) guidelines also called for a minimum number of people in polling booths with separate entry and
exit points, providing PPE kits to election officers in polling booths in quarantine centres, and allowing
voters with fever to visit the polling stations towards the end of the voting process. Voters were allowed
to use their own pens to mark ballot papers as they cast their vote.

Precaution Taken at Polling Booths

• Arrange the polling booth in such a way that voters enter from one entrance and exit from another
side if possible.
• Limit the number of agents to polling booth to the minimum.
• Mark one meter distance points in
the queue on the floor both in and
outside.
• Make a transparent protective screen
(may be thick polythene) between the
voters and the officials with openings
below for official transactions.
• Keep the maximum possible distance
between officers and the voters.
• Arrange polling agent area with 1
metre distance among themselves
and 1 meter behind the voters queue.