People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) spokesman Rohana Hettiarachchi said he personally visited several districts and a large amount of propaganda material is still on display.  “I visited several districts in the Southern province and through the observations it was evident that although the posters were removed, the cut-outs and the banners were remaining,” he added. 

Hettiarachchi asserted that the reason behind the tendency to leave out the cut-outs and banners could be the political pressure on the authorities responsible of removing the propaganda material. “We also noticed that the majority of the material belonged to the candidates contesting from the ruling party.” 

He said that during his visit to some of the districts, he met police personnel, the Government Agents as well as the Assistant Elections Commissioners and stressed on the importance of the removal of such material. “However, without the cooperation of the people the authorities cannot deal with the issue alone,” he said.

Speaking further he said although the laws pertaining to unethical usage of government resources as well as the removal of propaganda material have not been adhered to, the number of reports of election violence has been quite less so far. “We have received 19 complaints and 14 have been confirmed. “Most of these were cases where the candidates from the same political party had disparities amongst each other,” he added.

Meanwhile, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) spokesman Keerthi Tennakoon said none of the propaganda material had been removed so far. “The propaganda material of the opposition candidates has been removed in some parts of the country. But the candidates that belong to the ruling party have not taken any attempts to remove the cut-outs and banners,” he said.  

He remarked that a gross violation of election laws is being committed through refraining from removing such material.  “How can the public be ensured of a free and fair election if these basic election laws are not adhered to by the candidates?” he questioned. 

Speaking further he added that 36 incidents of election violence had been reported so far since the nominations were handed over.

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake informed all political parties through the Divisional Secretariats to remove all propaganda material and ordered the removal of all cut-outs, banners, posters and other election displays by March 1, 2010.