It's Postal Voting Day For 2024 Prez Poll | Breakfast Rundown With Zulfick Farzan

[Music] hello there and a very good morning and welcome to the breakfast rundown with me zulik pakan well it's postal voting day for the presidential election 2024 now let's dive into the details postal voting for the upcoming presidential election 2024 will officially begin today according to the country's Election Commission Now this process will take place today and throughout the next 2 days as well across 1,500 centers established to facilitate postal voting now from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. daily during these three days government institutions will host uh postal voting centers providing facilities for the eligible voters to exercise their franchise now for those unable to vote today and tomorrow additional opportunities will be made available for postal voting on the 11th and 12th of September at district election officers corresponding the workplace of the uh public sector employee now the election commission has also specified that public servants directly involved in the election process including those at district secretariats and the election commission itself uh can cast their postal votes today now at the same time this provision is also extended to staff at senior D di officers SSB and ASB officers police stations special task force camps uh special police units as well as the VIP security divisions uh and they also can exercise their vote today and tomorrow now furthermore postal voters from the armed forces and other government institutions can start voting tomorrow and the day after now this year a total of 71231 19 public Cent sector employees are eligible to exercise their franchise via postal vote now police spokesperson di nihal talua said that in order to ensure uh security at the polling stations a special security program has also been put voting comes election monitoring now election monitors have also said that they have implemented a special program to Monitor and observe postal voting across Sri Lanka now Rohan hetari the executive director of pawell said around 900 observers from pwell Will be deployed to monitor the postal voting across these uh voting centers set up in various locations in the country now in addition Mula gajan nayaka the executive director of The Institute of democratic reforms and electoral studies said that mobile units will also be deployed across the island to Monitor and observe the postal voting process now if you just woke up this morning and if you woke up earlier you would have experienced some heavy rainfall across many areas in Columbo and its suburbs and several other areas in the country now to give you a update on the weather the Met department has issued a weather alert for heavy winds uh throughout the day now the department of meteorology has issued a weather alert indicating that showers or thunder showers are expected at various times in the Western sabaru and Northwestern provinces as well as in the G Matra Candi and noria districts now some areas in the Western and sabam provinces along with G and Ma will experien heavy rainfall of over 50 mm at the same time wind speeds wind speeds raging from 40 to 50 km are anticipated in the western slopes of the central Hills as well as the trom and the Hanta District now on a related note the sun will be directly overhead in Sri Lanka until the 6th of uh September due to its relative Southward motion now the sun will be directly over Kut Nala kwat and okand at approximately 12:09 p.m. now that's according to the Met Department the Met department is also warning uh the general public to take necessary precautions uh during heavy rains as well as During the period when the sun is directly overhead Sri Lanka now let's move gears to the election campaign Trail on the 21st of September Sri Lankans around 17 million will head to polling stations across the island to exercise their franchise to elect the next president of Sri Lanka now on the campaign Trail many promises are being made with regard to the election and then these promises also relate to salaries now in recent weeks we witnessed various statements being made with regard to the salaries of the public sector now commencing on the 1st of January 2025 according to the government the basic salary of the public service will be increased by at least uh 24% to the lowest ranks with an increase ranging from 24 to 50% for all other ranks now the report by an expert committee that was appointed by the president to investigate and make recommendations on the public sector salaries was also handed over to the President yesterday now according to this report and according to the statement made by the president's media Division office assistants uh we'll see an increase of 5,440 rupees depending on their uh grade now the president's media division has also published a detailed list of all the salary increments based on the grades and the positions of uh the public sector now at the same time sjbs presidential candidate sjit padas recently promised a 24% salary increase and raising the living allowance of the public sector now anur Kumar Vaya from the NPP has also promised a salary increase for public sector employees but not with a percentage but he mentioned that the salary increase will take place every 6 months in proportionate to the cost of living now while all these developments are happening Independent presidential candidate and president ranil WK sing has urged the suar Jal and the Janti pyram LED NPP to remove the proposals related to the increase of public sector salaries from their manifestos now he said that this has all been done it has all been introduced and it will come into effect from January now he said that 2 years ago no one would have believed that he that he would be able to stand on a platform and announced that public sector salaries would be increased now he emphasized that he is fulfilling the promises that were made unlike any other leader who mely makes promises on the election platform he also said that he and his team had to make difficult decisions to stabilize the country's economy and protect the Sri Lankan rupy now he said quote had we not taken those steps we would have been in a much worse situation today similar to what Greece experienced now the president was speaking at a election campaign Valley named pulang Sri Lanka in palmod now at the same time the sumary janab bala's presidential candidate sajit prasa has mailed a b promis to implement a robust development program for the V on Northern and Eastern provinces of the country he says this is going to be a feat that no other president in the country has achieved now premadasa announced plans to hold a significant international support and Aid conference focusing on these regions for the first time since the postwar period now sadit padas said that this conference aims to attract Global attention and resources to drive massive development initiatives in the Northern and Eastern provinces of the country now SED padas emphasized that the uh strategic importance of mana and its connectivity with other districts in the country and also its close proximity to India now anur kumaraya is the presidential candidate from the Jaa J balaa now he also has made a bold promise last evening now he said he is going to make Sri Lanka's IT industry into a $5 billion industry by 2030 now this and I emphasize that the need for a new Constitution that would strengthen U the basic rights of the citizens of Sri Lanka and promote National Harmony and ensure the leaders are accountable to the law he also highlighted the importance of eliminating the Privileges and excessive expenses associated with politicians aiming to create a political environment where politicians and ordinary citizens are treated equally under the law now turning to Economic Development anur kumara pointed out the disparity between Sri Lanka's current it economy valued at $1.2 billion US and India's IT industry which is around $253 billion US he stressed the potential for growth through connectivity and Innovation during by a new generation of educated and skilled young people now this's plan on also includes producing 200,000 new software Engineers by 2030 in Sri Lanka which he believes will be instrumental for the growth of the it sector in the country now another presidential candidate the youngest presidential candidate this year is namal rajap Paka the son of former president Mahindra rajap Paka and nephew of goab rajap Paka who was also a president of Sri Lanka now n rajak has emphasized his commitment to a unified National Vision that transcends language and religious differences now Raja PX assured that his administration would Implement a fair and straightforward tax policy ensuring that businesses are not subject to indefinite taxation now highlighting the government's plan to promote sport tourism Raja PX retweeted his commitment to support local Industries including local fishermen and local hotellas now he also firmly rejected the notion of policies that very based on language or religion asserting that the slpp is a national political party with a vision for the whole of Sri Lanka now on the election campaign Trail over the recent years what we've seen is a statement being made with regard to the executive presidency there have been statements being made with regard to abolishing the executive presidency and also maintaining the uh executive presidency now as the election approaches three major candidates have presented different positions with regard to the executive presidency now what is the executive presidency the executive presidency in Sri Lanka is a powerful and influential position within the country's political system now significant changes came with the 1978 Constitution introduced by then president jrj which transformed the Office of the President into an executive presidency now this change not only granted the president executive powers and it also made the role of the head of state and the head of government now critics argue that the executive presidency centralizes too much around one individual leading to potential uh abuses and undermining Democratic checks and balances now the 20124 presidential election in Sri Lanka is going to be the first election since the 2022 economic crisis experienced in the country now anur kumaraya the candidate for the national people's power or the jaika Jan Bala in his Manifesto mentioned that he would abolish the executive presidency now s padas the presidential candidate for the Sam Jal has said that they would maintain the uh executive presidency and ensure that the power of the executive presidency is not misused or abused now Independent presidential candidate ranil wik sing speaking at a forum in Columbo and in response to a question on abolishing the executive presidency said that his main focus is economic stability over abolishing the Executive presidency he said the task of that will be rested with the next elected Parliament and he is more focused on uh restoring and bringing stability to the country's economy now leaving aside politics we've seen hes uh form up opposite the passport office or the Department of Immigration and immigration in B Mula now for many days people have been lining up to get those passports uh and the Department of Immigration has announced that it will receive a new batch of passports with Advanced security features by the 15th of October now this move is expected to to address the current crisis in passport issuances in the country now according to the department an order of 5 million such new passports have been placed and the first shipment of 50,000 passports is set to arrive by mid October now this initial batch will help alleviate the backlog and streamline the issuance of passports now as I mentioned in recent days we've seen long cues uh opposite the Department of Immigration and immigration and some people have been staying there for days just to get a number and appointment to obtain the passport to travel overseas now uh until the new passports arrive the Department of Immigration and immigration is saying that daily 1,000 passports will be issued now a senior officer mentioned that there are currently around 30,000 blank passports available with the Department until the new shipment arrives and these uh passports will be uh provided in a managed in a proper Manner and according to the requirement now in the meantime long cues were observed uh opposite the Department of Immigration and immigration and as I mentioned there have been people waiting there uh for many days to just obtain an appointment and a number to get inside the premises and hand over their documents to obtain a passport well if you want to follow more on the stories that we just brought you do log on to our website ww. news.lk and also follow us on our social media handles on Facebook X Instagram Tik Tok and YouTube for more of the very latest until then take care and stay safe