Political party reps agree to remove illegal cutouts, posters

Shirley WIJESINGHE

All representatives of political parties reached an agreement to remove illegal cutouts and posters voluntarily, UPFA General Secretary, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said.

He was making a statement to the media after the first discussion of a series of talks to be held with Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake at the Election Secretariat yesterday. Premajayantha said party representatives requested the Elections Commissioner to consider to conduct election campaign propaganda offices at the levels of polling division, electoral division and district representative offices. These measures were needed due to difficulties faced by all party candidates at the campaign stage of displaying their names and respective candidate numbers to the voters at the General Election, he said.

Premajayantha said they also pointed out that the candidate numbers were received even after the final date of nominations submitted by them. There should be a way to promote their names and numbers. All candidates have no equal capabilities to display their candidate numbers through the print or electronic media, he said.

Matters related to obtaining permission to hold election campaign meetings were also discussed at the meeting, he said. IGP Mahinda Balasuriya has agreed to hold a special discussion with all party representatives at a future date, he added.

Responding to a query about the possibility of the involvement of foreign observers in counting centres, Premajayantha said it is too early to discuss the related matters.

National Democratic Front representative Anura Kumara Disanayake told the media that the Elections Commissioner has directed the IGP to remove all cutouts and posters before March 15. Senior UNP representative requested the Elections Commissioner for a copy of the list of temporary identity cards issued during the Presidential Election.