Demonstrations or political meetings subsequent to the Presidential Election will be prohibited for another week, according to the Election Act, Police Media Spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ruwan Gunasekera told the media yesterday (16) at a press conference.
The Police confirmed that the election, all in all, was held peacefully, with only a minimum number of isolated incidents reported.
“I would like to mention that Sri Lanka Police could provide maximum security to hold a peaceful election. There was not a single violent act reported” SSP Gunasekera said.
However, the Police had arrested 26 people for violating Election law. “We continuously advocated the public not to take photographs of the ballot paper. We have arrested 8 people who took pictures of their ballot papers during election time,” he said.
The Police had also arrested 18 people who had violated the rules around polling booths and other incidents. Meanwhile, there had been only one incident of assault (in Deraniyagala) reported island wide on Election Day.
SSP Gunasekara confirmed an attack on three buses carrying people in Thanthirimale. However, no injuries had been reported from the incident and the Thanthirimale police is investigating the incident.
The Police had deployed more than 25,700 police officers at polling booths, while another 3,000 cops were deployed in mobile service. In addition, road blocks and riot squads had also been deployed as necessary. SSP Gunasekera said full police protection was given to counting centres.
“There were more than 50 police officers including a Senior Superintendent of Police or a Superintendent of Police deployed in each counting centre. Police Special Task Force was also deployed near counting centres” he explained.
During the vote counting process, only personnel who had the consent of the Election Commission could enter the centres. He stressed that steps have been taken to take care of the security post election.