Vacant position of President
* If only one MP’s name is proposed no election would be required
* Parliament Secretary General will act as ‘returning officer’
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If only one Parliamentarian’s name is proposed for the Presidency and confirmed, the Secretary General of Parliament will announce today itself that the relevant member has been elected by the Parliament for the vacant position of President, the Parliament Media Unit said.
Accordingly, this procedure will be completed without further delay (in 1993, D.B. Wijetunga became the President in this manner). Parliament will convene today at 10.00 am to accept the nominations for the vacant position of President. But this time, it has already been said that several candidates will come forward, so if that happens, a poll will have to be held.
Accordingly, it will be marked as a new experience in the Parliamentary history of this country. The Secretary General of Parliament will act as the ‘returning officer’ on the date fixed to hold the election for ‘President by Parliament’.
If elected as President, a prior written consent is required stating the intention to hold office.
Every Member of Parliament who intends to propose a Member of Parliament to be elected for the vacant office of President must first obtain the written consent of that Member of Parliament stating his or her intent to serve in the office of President if the Member is elected.
On the day of nominations (today) an MP should address the Secretary General and propose another MP for the vacant post of Presidency. At the time of proposing, it is essential that the member who is proposing be present in the chamber. After that, the name proposed should be confirmed by another MP. A debate on this regard shall not be allowed.If two or more names are proposed today, the 20th will be set aside for the election of the President. Here too, the Secretary General of the Parliament acts as the returning officer.
The Speaker also has the right to vote in this election. Each MP is entitled to only one vote and the vote should be marked with the number “1” in the box in front of the candidate’s name. There is also an option to mark preferences and 2, 3 etc. can be marked according to the order of preferences.
If a candidate receives more than one-third of the valid votes cast, the returning officer immediately announces that the candidate has been elected to the presidency.
If no candidate gets more than one-third of the valid votes cast then the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated from the competition.
If each MP who voted as first preference for the candidate removed from the competition has their second preference, they will be added to the respective candidate.
* Even if no candidate has received more than two-thirds of the valid votes, the candidate who received the least number of votes in each calculation is removed from the competition and votes are added to the remaining candidates in the second, third, etc.
* Even after doing so, if no candidate has obtained one of two of the valid number of votes, the election officer will declare that the candidate who obtained the majority of votes at the end of the counting as above has been elected to the office of President.
* Also, when the votes are equal between two or more candidates, a draw will be made at the sole discretion of the Returning Officer.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022 – 01:00
