The 2019 Sri Lankan presidential elections will be held on the 16^th of November 2019 and will be the 8th presidential election the country will witness. The incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena’s term of office will end on 9 January 2020, however he is eligible to run for a second term.

On the day of nominations a record 35 candidates handed in their nominations commencing 9am concluded at 11 am Monday the 7^th of October at the National Elections Commission office in Rajagiriya.

Candidates who submitted their nominations included the United National Front Candidate (UNF) Sajith Premadasa National People’s Power (NPP) Candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake.

Among the candidates are two Buddhist monks, four from the Muslim community, two from the Tamil community and one female candidate.

Six out of the 41 president hopefuls who placed the deposits also did not submit nominations. United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) parliamentarians, former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and Kumara Welgama did not submit their nominations despite making deposits.

All 35 nominations submitted to the Elections Commission have been accepted, stated the Chairman of the Elections Commission. The Commission rejected two objections submitted regarding the nominations.