Sri Lanka elections pass without glitch amid virus

Sri Lankans voted Wednesday to elect a new Parliament that is expected to give strong support to powerful and popular Rajapaksa brors.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected last vember after projecting himself as only leer who could bring security to country after Islamic State-inspired bombings of churches and hotels on Easter Sunday that killed 269 people.

His older bror, charismatic former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is seeking a majority of 225 seats in Parliament to return as prime minister.

At least four members of family were running in parliamentary election, and strong support for Rajapaksas' party could d to ir political dynasty.

Chairman of Sri Lanka's Election Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya said re were major violations or violence reports, and elections h a large voting turut.

"We are very happy that this was a peaceful election," said Deshapriya.

voting ended at 5 p.m. with police escorting balllot boxes to counting centers.

Counting starts Thursday and final results are expected Friday.

More than 16 million people were eligible to vote to elect 196 lawmakers, with rest being named from a national list according to number of votes received by each party or independent group.

election was originally scheduled for April but was twice postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Sri Lanka has largely contained spre of virus with 2,834 confirmed cases including 11 deaths.

Health measures were put in place at polling booths with social distancing.

Voters were asked to bring ir own pens to mark ir ballots, or use disinfected pens provided at voting stations.