• Expert committee recommends embassy, postal, online, proxy voting
• Election monitors urge parallel reforms for domestic voters

Sri Lankan authorities are undertaking extensive preparatory work to implement voting for citizens living overseas, with the aim of completing the process before the end of 2026.

The Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils, and Local Government submitted an initial framework to the Cabinet in May. Following its approval, the Cabinet requested the Election Commission to develop a secure and practical mechanism for overseas voting.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Deputy Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Prabha Ruwan Senarath said: “Although Cabinet approval has been granted, we are now undertaking the extensive preparatory work required to implement overseas voting. It is a complex process, but our goal is to complete it before the end of this year.”

“At present, elections can only be conducted through our foreign missions in about 17 countries. We must determine how to facilitate voting in countries where Sri Lanka has no diplomatic presence, whether through online voting, designated polling centres, or other practical arrangements. These are among the key issues currently under consideration,” he added.

The initiative marks the latest step in a policy discussion that has continued for more than a decade. Although previous governments approved similar Cabinet papers, implementation repeatedly stalled due to legal, logistical, and security concerns. 

In order to avoid further delays, an expert committee appointed to study the issue has proposed a comprehensive framework covering voter registration, voting methods, and election monitoring.

Additional Commissioner of Elections – Legal and Investigation Chinthaka Kularatne, who chaired the committee, said it had recommended two methods of voter registration.

“The first allows family members or relatives in Sri Lanka to register an overseas voter, subject to verification by the relevant grama niladhari. The second enables the voter to submit a registration request through the Sri Lankan embassy, after which the Election Commission would forward it to the relevant grama niladhari for verification before final approval,” Kularatne explained.

The committee has also recommended four methods for casting ballots.

“For the voting process, we have proposed four options: voting at Sri Lankan embassies, online voting at designated centres to safeguard the secrecy of the ballot, postal voting, and proxy voting, which would allow an overseas voter to appoint a representative in Sri Lanka to cast a ballot on their behalf,” he said.

Kularatne said that any overseas voting system would be subject to security procedures comparable to those used in domestic elections. These would include the appointment of senior presiding officers, the maintenance of official voter registers, and mandatory identity verification using a poll card together with a valid National Identity Card or passport.

The committee has also proposed a three-tier monitoring mechanism to strengthen transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.

“Elections could be supervised by Election Commission officials, officials attached to Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, or representatives of the overseas branches of recognised local political parties. We have also recommended inviting independent observers from the respective host countries to further strengthen transparency,” Kularatne said.

Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake confirmed that the commission had submitted its observations on each proposed voting option to Parliament for consideration.

While welcoming the proposed reforms for overseas voters, election monitors cautioned that improving access to voting within Sri Lanka should also remain a priority.

People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi welcomed the renewed effort, noting that the current administration had shifted its focus from domestic electoral reforms to extending voting rights to Sri Lankans living abroad.

He also pointed to regional experience, noting that Bangladesh had enacted legislation permitting overseas postal voting in the 1970s but had only implemented the system last year.

Hettiarachchi further argued that thousands of eligible voters within Sri Lanka continued to face barriers to exercising their franchise because of employment obligations, personal commitments, illness, disability, or imprisonment. 

He said that electoral reforms should also include measures such as advance voting, special polling centres, and mobile voting units, noting that similar arrangements had previously been introduced for displaced voters in Jaffna before 2010 and had also been explored during the Covid-19 pandemic.