Campaigns free of posters and cut-outs a long way away | Sunday Observer

Campaigns free of posters and cut-outs a long way away

25 August, 2019
Cut-outs of SLPP candidate in Galle town
Cut-outs of SLPP candidate in Galle town

According to the Chairman of the Election commission, next Presidential election will fall somewhere between November and December this year. Meanwhile, several civil activists, such as the former Editor of Raavaya, Victor Ivan, claim that there is no point in even holding a Presidential election as the 19 Amendment’s wings have been clipped. Despite all these facts and even though there is no election announced yet, we have now started to see people hanging on utility poles grinning at the public. At the moment, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) are conducting extensive poster and cut-out campaigns.

As UNP has not yet announced their Presidential candidate, there is no such massive campaign from that end. However, the Badulla rally of Minister Sajith Premadasa had used polythene and plastic materials for decorations extensively.

Candidates and polythene

Soon after announcing their Presidential candidate, party supporters of SLPP were busy with cut-outs and posters. Politicians at the grassroot level have put up huge cut-outs of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, with pictures of Mahinda Rajapaksa and the host politician embodied in the corners.

JVP started a poster and cut-out campaign a few days before they announced their candidate. After Anura Kumara Dissanayaka was named as their contender, another wave of posters and cut-outs appeared in major cities across most of the country.

Meanwhile, there was a ceremony in Galle welcoming Gotabaya on August 17. That day the Galle town was fully covered by cut-outs and posters of Gotabaya. This had happened despite laws, passed by Galle Municipal Council last year, that oppose the displaying of bill-boards in the Galle town, with exceptions for two locations. The municipality had taken this decision considering the fact that Galle Fort is a UNESCO world heritage site.

“We set up those cut-outs only for the welcome of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. We removed them all the following day,” Galle Mayor Priyantha Sahabandu told the Sunday Observer.

He then pointed fingers at the JVP for setting up an unauthorised cut-out in front of the main bus stand in Galle. “We did not remove it as it would lead to a conflict. We will inform them to remove it soon,” he said. “There is no law against setting up cut-outs. We only came into a pact last year to avoid commercial cut-outs within the town. These kinds of political publicity happen once in a while and it is not a major issue,” the Mayor explained.

Interestingly, Gotabaya Rajapaksa mentioned a polythene and plastic free campaign for his presidency. Perhaps determined to get back on the track, the SLPP youth wing immediately announced their unconsent for setting up posters and cut-outs.

“It was MP Namal Rajapaksa who initially suggested the idea of conducting a polythene and plastic free election campaign for the Presidency, on behalf of SLPP Youth Wing. Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa also showed his interest towards this at the national conference of SLPP. Since we have the majority political power in the country after local government polls, if we take the lead in this direction, everybody else would follow us,” a member of the SLPP Youth wing and Colombo Municipal Councillor Milinda Rajapaksha told the Sunday Observer.

He added, “Certain politicians and supporters had set up posters and cut-outs as it was what they are familiar with for a long time. But they listened to our requests and then removed those materials. In political campaigns, we cannot give orders to the supporters. But we can reach an understanding and agreement. That is what we are doing and we receive a good response from the supporters.”

If election law were fully imposed and every candidate has the same level of access to electronic and print media, with no bias from the media, then in such a reality the JVP would not use posters and cut-outs. In the absence of such a situation, the leftist party has no other choice, JVP Parliamentarian Bimal Rathnayake said, commenting on the election propaganda mechanisms.

“As a political party with financial difficulties, poster campaigns were one of our main avenues to educate the public for decades. However, we have made a strict decision not to use polythene in all our political activities. But the government, especially the President and the Prime Minister, use polythene massively in their propaganda activities,” he said.

Absence of laws

Centre for Environmental Justice Executive Director Hemantha Vithanage has fought against the visual pollution of Sri Lanka for a long time. His organisation went to courts in 2009 seeking proper guidelines from the courts on posters and cut-outs. Due to delays in the Legal Draftsman department, however, the law is yet to be passed.

“In 2009, we came to a conclusion of finalising visual pollution regulation with the support of Central Environmental Authority and Sri Lanka Police. A draft of the proposal was sent to the Legal Draftsman department in 2012. To date, we did not receive a single bit of information about it,” Hemantha said.

“We continuously wrote about this to Legal Draftsman, CEA and Police. CEA replied stating that Legal Draftsman has not yet finalised it. Former IGP Pujith Jayasundara sent us a letter that Police is eagerly waiting for the law as they can implement it accordingly,” he explained.

“It was a single page document. If the Legal Draftsman cannot finalise a single page document for six years, what is the point?” Hemantha questions.

Refusal from the public

Undoubtedly, visual pollution is a serious threat to the beauty of our surroundings. Environmental consequences of such polythene and plastic promotional materials are huge. Professor K. Karunathilake, a senior lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kelaniya and a PAFFREL (People’s Action For Free and Fair Elections) board member highlighted the importance of finding new ways to run promotions.

“The youth rejects posters and cut-outs as they are a threat to the environment. They are actually wondering why politicians depend on such harmful activities while they can use effective and eco-friendly means for canvassing,” he said.

According to research done by Prof. Karunathilake, 94 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population possess a cellular phone, out of which 54 per cent are smartphone users. In other words, the majority of Sri Lankans have internet and social media access at their fingertips.

“Election time is good for the printing industry. Some politicians use their power to get posters printed without paying a penny. This entire culture has created a host of issues,” the Professor explained.

SLPP launched an e-canvassing app recently, becoming the first political party in Sri Lanka to introduce such a comprehensive digital platform to strengthen their election canvassing.

“This app was built by the Engineers Wing of SLPP. With that we have a clear chance to reduce the number of posters and banners in the upcoming election and this was highly appreciated by the youth,” Milinda Rajapaksa commented. 

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