Election officials get ready to transport ballot boxes from a school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Aug. 4, 2020. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a special gazette notice issued early Tuesday, declared that the new Parliament will convene on Aug. 20 following the parliamentary elections to be held Wednesday. (Photo by A.Hapuarachchi/Xinhua)
COLOMBO, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a special gazette notice issued early Tuesday, declared that the new Parliament will convene on Aug. 20 following the parliamentary elections to be held Wednesday.
In a special gazette notice, Rajapaksa said "Under the powers vested in me by the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Parliamentary Election Act, I have summoned the new Parliament to meet on August 20, 2020 following the Parliamentary elections tomorrow."
The Elections Commission on Monday said that an estimated 16.2 million voters will be able to vote in Wednesday's election which will elect a new 225-member Parliament.
Voting will begin at 7 a.m. in the morning and end at 5 p.m. local time after it is extended by a further hour due to strict health guidelines which will be in place due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The main political parties contesting the parliamentary election will be the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna led by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya led by former presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa and the United National Party led by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
An estimated 12,000 polling booths have been set up across the country for people to cast their votes.
