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Polls
without the people The only places that are hives of activity are the colourfully decorated political offices of candidates. "The people are not very enthusiastic about the polls. Candidates are virtually pleading with the people to vote for them," K. R. Cyril, a supporter of a candidate contesting from Minuwangoda said. Although people-participation is minimal, candidates are seen canvassing on their own most of the time, using their own vehicles or three-wheelers. Some candidates are finding it difficult to find funds for their campaigns having spent their finances on friends who contested the last general elections. Some of those seeking elections this time are candidates who were defeated at the last general election. One of the noticeable features of this campaign was the delayed kick-start to the campaign by both the UPFA and UNP and the minimal participation of the leaders of the parties. In contrast the JVP is carrying out a more lively and vigorous election campaign. Their colourful poster campaign is directed at boosting their members. Summing up the people's lack of enthusiasm was Justin Anthony from Gampaha who said, "People are fed up of elections. Few months ago we faced an exciting election and now there is another one coming up to waste our time". A lot of people are uncertain about what would happen and they fear that the already high cost of living, would skyrocket further after the elections. "We are afraid that prices of items such as oil and flour would go up after July 10," a person from Minuwangoda said. Katana in the Gampaha district - a place usually associated with high campaign activity in the lead up to any election, is relatively quiet this time. Residents said the campaign had been on a low key compared to the vociferous general election campaign a few months ago. One of the reasons attributed for the low-key poster campaign has been that police have been tearing down or tarring most of what have come up. A person caught putting up posters is fined Rs. 100 after being produced in courts. Negombo's Chief Inspector H.M.P. Hennayake said they have arrested about 25 people who were putting up posters. He also said they had received only three election-related complaints. In Colombo a majority of the posters are yet to be torn down. (See box story below.) The enthusiasm among the people here too is low and candidates are seen carrying out personal campaigns to win votes. Our Nuwara Eliya correspondent had a similar report. He said there were very little signs of an approaching election with police tearing down posters in the town and people in general showing very little interest. However, he said candidates were battling it out on their own to win the votes. He said two former ministers in Nuwara Eliya had resorted to a novel method of campaigning by printing their names and party symbols on boxes of matches and distributing them among the people. Nuwara Eliya Returning Officer D.P.G. Kumarasinghe said 3891 people had applied for postal votes - which was almost half the number of those who had applied for the general election. In Kandy, too, there is little election fever. "Lots of people do not even know the date of the election," a businessman said. Anuradhapura district has been no different from other districts. Here too a few pocket meetings are being held with 30-40 people attending them. (see separate story). Southern Province too has been quiet with people extending little support to candidates who are trying to organise pocket meetings.
PAFFREL calls for tough police action Noting that police had taken some action against errant candidates, PAFFREL chief Kingsley Rodrigo said the police were not taking the matter seriously. "With 7.8 million rupees being granted by the Elections Commissioner to the police for the removal of posters, it is discouraging to see a lack of enthusiasm in OICs to remove posters," Mr. Rodrigo said, urging the police to get tough on candidates who, he said, were aware that putting up posters was an offence. The PAFFREL chief said his organisation would deploy 10,000 officials to monitor the elections in the six provinces. According to PAFFREL, 163 election related incidents has been reported with 33 cases being serious criminal offences. Polls monitor CMEV said it would deploy 105 election monitors and it had documented 234 incidents, of which 207 incidents has been categorised as offences relating to posters.
Nothing but empty words Candidates from all sides promise that they would take steps to ensure a fair price for agriculture products and to renovate tanks and roads. But voters says they are fed up with false promises and they are only interested in concrete steps. They warn that many farmers are leaving agriculture and taking up odd jobs because no political party has fulfilled its election promises. They also say most roads which come under the purview of the Provincial Council are in need of repairs and irrigation tanks also have to be reconstructed.
Low turnout feared: CBK orders all-out campaign This comes in the wake of independent opinion polls which indicated that it could be an alarmingly low voter turnout at Saturday's election to six provincial councils. The President's call for an intensification of the polls campaign is also linked to possible link-ups with the CWC and the JHU to obtain a working majority in parliament. UPFA sources said Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Susil Premjayanth who were trying to work out coalition deals had been told that the response of opposition parties would depend on the results of the PC polls. |
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