Sri Lanka is holding parliamentary elections that were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the capital Colombo this morning I joined tens of thousands who decided to trust the election commissioner's assurances of safety and made my way to a polling station. The process was unbelievably efficient.

A lot of thought had clearly gone into protecting voters. The pandemic is considered to be largely under control in the country, with 2,834 cases and 11 deaths recorded to date. But officials were clearly taking no chances.

Masks were mandatory and voters had to bring their own pens. Masked policemen were sitting around laughing and joking and helping voters find their booths.

These were staffed by officials sitting behind glass windows. I was given hand sanitiser before I was given my voting sheet. After casting my vote, I got even more sanitiser.
The entire process took minutes and was very relaxed.