“Absolutely nothing is being done about this. The police are not doing their job, in fact in some parts of the country the assistants from the Elections Commissioner’s Department and the Police Department are actually helping the culprits. We therefore cannot expect anything from these people,” declared Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Spokesman, Keerthi Tennekoon.

The most flagrant and visible violations of this country’s election laws are of course the illegal cutouts, posters and banners that now cover a large portion of this country.  However the most serious breaches of the laws that are, at least in principle, meant to regulate our election process involve the heavy misuse of state resources by politicians in their personal campaigns.

Over 30 government vehicles have been handed over to ministers, deputy ministers and other officials for use in their election campaigns.  Such vehicles are in fact meant for the exclusive use of officials who hold ministerial posts. Almost all ministers are currently using state-owned vehicles for their election campaigns, at state expense as the government provides for the fuel and maintenance of these vehicles.

Vehicles without proper number plates

Our innovative politicians have also taken self-promotion a step further; in addition to the monstrous cutouts of their grinning faces that adorn every street corner, they have now plastered  stickers and posters of themselves on every other vehicle.

Minister of Youth Affairs and SLFP candidate Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Janaka Tennekoon and Minister of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development Susantha Punchinilame are a few of the many who have decided to use this tactic in their campaigns.
Of the hundreds of vehicles being misused, many bear no number plates when present at rallies and other campaign events while others, instead of using proper license plates, use garage numbers.

“This violates one of the most basic laws of the country — the Motor Traffic Act of Sri Lanka. Some of these vehicles even carry the logo of the Police Department even though they are actually government owned or private vehicles. A sticker stating that it is a police vehicle is plastered onto the vehicle although there is not a single police official to be seen in any of them”, said Keerthi Tennekoon.

According to CaFFE, the areas worst affected are Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Matale, Kurunegala and Kegalle. Tennekoon blamed the police and the assistant election commissioners for failing in the removal of illegal propaganda despite Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake’s order for their removal.

Tennekoon also said that the opposition is not being allowed to carry out their election campaign peacefully. CaFFE reports that  not a single decoration or poster from the opposition party remains in the Dambulla and Matara areas as they have all been destroyed. In fact, police officers have been spotted campaigning for UPFA candidates in these areas as well.

On a brighter note, illegal propaganda in Ampara, Batticaloa and Jaffna have been successfully removed under the directives of the assistant commissioners assigned to those areas.