Colombo and the suburbs might be feeling the warmth of the battle for votes, but the atmosphere remains lukewarm in the city of Jaffna in the Northern peninsula with less enthusiasm and low key promotions being the norm.
In stark contrast to the walls of Colombo where any vertical surface seem to have magical powers of attracting posters with smiling candidates urging for the voter’s preference, the vast majority of walls in Jaffna still sport paint and not posters.
Billboards and hoardings of candidates are almost non-existent, but a handful of cut-outs were seen within the city of Jaffna. Election law prohibits the usage of posters, and cut-outs for campaigning at elections, but in the battle for voters by candidates, these rules of engagement are all but forgotten.
Full body stickers for the vehicles of candidates and their supporters, a promotion tool that saw widespread usage at the 2010 Presidential Elections, seem to be crawling into the North at the Parliamentary Elections. Radio jingles for candidates from Colombo promising development were heard over island wide radio stations which reach the Palmyrah dotted city. Despite the lack of static promotion material, Jaffna got a taste of the real thing when President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Jaffna on April 1, to address massive crowds at the Alfred Duraiappah stadium for the main election rally for the North, of the United People’s Freedom Alliance. 324 candidates from 15 political parties and 4 independent groups will be battling for their stake in Jaffna’s 721, 359 registered voters at the upcoming elections.
Jaffna carries nine elected officials in the 225-member Parliament of Sri Lanka.
More than 14-million registered voters would be given a chance to cast their ballots on the April 8 to elect 196 out of its 225 members of the legislative body for a six year term.
Dinidu de Alwis, www.perambara.org