The seventh presidential election of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka got underway at 7am today.

It will be conducted across 12,134 polling stations across the entire country. The number of registered voters are 15, 044, 490.

Colombo District, with 1076 polling stations, has the largest number of polling stations. Trincomalee has the lowest number with 285 polling stations.

Nineteen candidates are in the fray to become the next president of Sri Lanka. The main contenders are President Mahinda Rajapaksa of the United People's Freedom Alliance and Maithripala Sirisena of the New Democratic Front. Voters can either choose one candidate or choose three candidates by order of preference.

The polling stations will be open until 4pm.