By Sarah Hannan reporting from the Central Province
The date for the 2020 parliamentary election is finally set for 5 August, and political parties this time will have an added challenge in conducting their election campaigns as the Election Commission (EC) has decided to impose strict safety regulations to be added to the health guidelines already issued by the Ministry of Health in order to ensure that the Covid-19 pandemic will not see an outbreak following the election.
The fact that the upcoming election is to take place amidst a monsoon season poses another challenge to the EC as they would have to consider alternative approaches, should natural disasters, such as floods and landslides, occur.
This week,
The Sunday Morning was in the Central Province to observe the pre-election atmosphere in its three districts of Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.
The Hill Country always had issues with its road network and water supply to certain areas, with the urban community being afforded around-the-clock water supply and quick fixes if the road structures are damaged. However, the same cannot be said about the outskirts. Many infrastructure development projects in the outskirts seem to have come to a standstill, hindering the movement of people and vehicles to some extent.
With a quick glance at the candidates from the main political parties, one can already predict as to who would secure a seat in Parliament, be it from the side of the Government or the Opposition. A few prominent and well-seasoned former parliamentarians will yet again be contesting this election from the three districts, and the majority of votes will predictably be cast for the familiars, not giving much opportunity for newcomers.
Matale District
- During the upcoming election, 184 candidates will contest from 23 political parties (13 main parties and 10 independent groups). Each political party has eight nominees
Although the district is home to several reservoirs, some of the villages do not have a proper water supply, especially given the terrain. The roads are in a constant state of repair as the areas are prone to earth slips. The sides of the roads keep washing away despite retention walls being continuously built.
We stopped in Ukuwela, a quaint hamlet which is easily recognisable by its railway station. However, the lack of a proper bus stop forces the people in the area to always sprint to catch the buses headed towards Kandy, Elkaduwa, or Matale. Right next to the station was the party office of the Jathika Jana Balawegaya or National People’s Power (NPP), but there was no one present at the office.
“In terms of the facilities in our area, we are quite satisfied. However, it would be great if a proper bus stop is built so that people are not inconvenienced, especially during rains. There were talks of building a bus stop at the junction, but it is yet to come to fruition. The other worry is the road network which needs constant repair. Too much rain washes away parts of the road; sometimes the gravel and tar crack as the material and the technique that have been used are substandard,” D. Wickremasinghe, a resident of Ukuwela, shared.
Nadaraja runs a construction machinery-lending business in the middle of the Ukuwela town, but he is a resident of Tawalankoya.
“We have a constant water shortage. They have connected a waterline, but there is limited water supply. In all the years, not a single government has been able to solve our water issue. The terrain must be one of the pain points, but we hope the parliamentarians that will be elected this time from Matale would look into fixing at least the basic necessities of the people,” Nadaraja said.
Kandy District
- During the upcoming election, 420 candidates will contest from 28 political parties (16 main parties and 12 independent groups). Each political party has 15 nominees
There were hardly any posters or cut-outs set up in the city or the suburbs in the Kandy District, and only the party offices were embellished. It was from the Kandy District that the first election-related incident took place, where a political party office had been set on fire while the members were protesting in Colombo in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter global movement.
“Isn’t it obvious? This time, most votes will be cast for the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna). People are very pleased with how the current President is ruling the country. Now, all that is left is for us to elect some parliamentarians who could work according to his vision. Even amidst this pandemic, the way the Cabinet of Ministers that he appointed carried out their duties is commendable,” C. Samarasinghe from Asgiriya noted.
He also said the regulations that are currently set up will provide an unnecessary advantage for former parliamentarians contesting the election as people are familiar with their strengths, and their years of experience in the political arena will be considered by the voters.
“We live in the suburbs and our only pain point is that we do not have quick access to the city. The original road that was built stretches 1.5 km. There was a proposal to build a bridge that would connect our village to the city, which will only be 200 m in length. For years, each turning government would send a team to survey the area where the bridge is to be built, but no one has taken action,” M. Hilmy, a resident of Gampolawala in Gampola, noted.
Once the bridge is constructed, it will save a lot of time for some 600 families living in the village, Hilmy explained. He also revealed that there have been some pocket meetings in his village by some contestants, but this time, people are more concerned about rebuilding their businesses post-pandemic. Many from his village are businessmen or are connected to the tourism industry and have not been compensated for the loss of work in any way.
“The Rs. 5,000 allowance the Government issued was distributed on two occasions to all the families that were entitled. The SLPP contestant from Gampola saw to that and had been present in person when the cash allowances were handed out during the lockdown period. The health guidelines have restricted the mobility of other political party members this time, unfortunately,” W. Goonethilake from Singhapitiya noted.
Nuwara Eliya District
- During the upcoming election, 264 candidates will contest from 24 political parties (11 main parties and 13 independent groups). Each political party has 11 nominees
Nuwara Eliya is the only district in the Central Province from which the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will have their own contestants without presenting nominations through the SLPP. Given that the ruling party was able to flex their political influence during the state-sponsored funeral of the late Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) Leader Arumugam Thondaman in May amidst curfew and allow the people of the district to pay their last respects in thousands, disregarding many health guidelines. With this, the country will closely observe how the people would vote.
The Nuwara Eliya District is home to the majority of the estate worker population and has some longstanding socioeconomic issues that are yet to be addressed. The promised Rs. 1,000 daily wage is still not received and even last year, they only received a mere Rs. 200 increment. The district is constantly prone to natural disasters, with some areas prone to flooding twice a year during both monsoon seasons, and its main roads are constantly damaged as they run parallel to steep precipices and reservoirs.
Most of the schoolchildren opt to attend a school in Kandy for their Advance Level (A/L) studies as their hometowns lack teachers for certain subject streams. Even then, only a very few can afford the luxury of moving out as most of the families fall to the lower income bracket.
Incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised to build a university in Kotagala in time to mark the first-year death anniversary of the late Thondaman. However, whether building a university is more important than upgrading the quality of life of these people at this juncture, remains a question.
“We struggle to send our children to school because on some days, access to the main roads from the estate gets blocked due to fallen trees and earth slips. Irregular transport schedules mean that the children opt to walk the long stretch to schools. Their shoes wear out fast because they have to walk on rough terrain. Shoes are expensive, so they will have to manage with one pair throughout the year,” shared M. Vani from Seetha Eliya.
Other than tea plantation work, the next income generator for the district is flower cultivation, vegetable cultivation, and tourism. The pandemic has majorly affected many in the district when the borders closed down; they realised that they were dependent on wholesale buyers who would travel from all parts of the country to purchase their produce.
“It is now over a year and we are yet to be able to recover the damages that have been caused to our personal incomes. We have been battered by natural disasters, the Easter bombings, and now the pandemic. We had to discard a whole season worth of inventory as there was no fiesta this April. Our grievances will not be heard immediately and the microfinance loans that we have taken are long overdue. We are in a difficult situation as we will have to wait till next year to restart our livelihoods,” K. Dissanayake, a vendor in the vicinity of the Hakgala Botanical Gardens, informed us. Dissanayake hopes the parliamentarians who will be elected from the district would also look into the retail shop owners’ plight.
“Even when the country opens up for tourism, the Ministry is only going to allow tourists to stay at SLTDA-approved hotels. Many of us have registered with online accommodation rental sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com. We hope the Government will consider allowing us to conduct our business as well. We are more than willing to adhere to the health guidelines and can train our staff to adhere to the same,” Kasun, the owner of a holiday rental in Nuwara Eliya, noted.
Kasun believes that when people vote this time, they would elect new blood into the political arena as it was high time the older generation gave an opportunity to the young politicians who understand the needs of the new generation.
Political parties from Central Province weigh in
Majority from SLPP
Sarath Ekanayake Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Kandy District Chief Organiser and candidate
We are positive that the majority of votes from the province will be for the SLPP. The actions that were taken by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, have been viewed in a favourable light by the public.
Compared with other world leaders, we can say that President Rajapaksa was able to direct the Cabinet and the grassroots-level authorities to arrest the situation immediately.
Even in the outskirts, people are strongly in support of the SLPP and they have confidence that the President will resuscitate the country’s economy in no time.
However, it is also the voters’ responsibility to exercise their right to vote and send the most skilled and practical people to Parliament this time.
This time we are faced with a pandemic and adverse weather as well. Understanding the challenges that the voter will face, the Election Commission (EC) too has taken measures to demarcate additional polling stations in the electoral districts.
Adherence to health guidelines too needs to be considered. Therefore, we urge the public to co-operate with the health authorities and election officers on the day of the election, so they can facilitate the polling activities efficiently.
Step-motherly treatment
Roshan Gunawardena Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Nuwara Eliya District Chief Organiser and candidate
The SLFP will contest under the “hand” symbol only in three districts (Kalutara, Nuwara Eliya, and Jaffna*). However, we are supporting the incumbent President to establish a strong ruling party following the parliamentary election.
Initially, we were to contest under the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)’s “flower bud” symbol, but due to a disagreement over nominations, we decided that the SLFP will present their own candidates while the SLPP too presents their own.
We took President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s request to heart and have presented 11 new faces in the party, who we believe have the skills to achieve the President’s vision for Sri Lanka. However, the rift that was caused by two former ministers has now jeopardised that vision.
The new faces will have to contend with seasoned politicians who have been elected to Parliament time and again over the last few decades.
The general public is unaware that the SLFP is also running for office separately in three districts (Kalutara, Nuwara Eliya, and Jaffna*). If you look at the airtime the SLPP has, as compared to the SLFP, it is obvious that although we are fully supporting the President to achieve his vision of a forward-thinking country, we are given step-motherly treatment when it comes to canvassing and advertising. Even the media does not allow the SLFP candidates to comment and educate the voters. It is always the SLPP that gets special attention.
We are also faced with a disadvantage as candidates have to conduct meetings in small groups, but the terrain itself is challenging and we also have to ensure that we deliver clear and concise messages to the people of the Nuwara Eliya District. If we are to go from house to house with just three persons, we will at least need 15 days to cover one polling division.
*
For the Jaffna Electoral District SLPP candidate will be contesting under the SLFP
Move out from traditional methods
Rauff Hakeem Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Kandy District candidate and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader
The SLMC will be contesting through the SJB under the “telephone” symbol this time in all the electoral districts except for Batticaloa and Puttalam.
People are yet to get into the mood of elections as they were only recently able to carry out day-to-day activities following the nearly three-month-long lockdown and curfew due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, as politicians, we need to educate our voters on the importance of electing suitable candidates to Parliament in the upcoming election.
Educating voters is now being gradually carried out whilst adhering to the guidelines given by the Election Commission and health authorities.
We have to move out from the traditional methods of canvassing and are also faced with restrictions in publicising the candidate names and numbers freely, which we see as an obstacle, especially considering that there are newcomers who are contesting for the first time. The SJB and the SLMC are now utilising alternatives such as social media platforms to drive awareness and advertise the candidates and their contesting numbers.
People’s livelihoods were heavily affected by the lockdown and now the work restrictions are in place. So we are yet to pick up the pulse of the citizens of the country. In our campaign trail, we do receive positive feedback from our followers, and we are confident that we will be able to garner as many votes for SJB.
No level playing field
K.D. Lal Kantha Jathika Jana Balawegaya Kandy District candidate
The weather conditions and the health regulations for the election that we have to face this time while canvassing are seen as the biggest challenges. Our primary method of canvassing is via meetings, but that too is now limited to a small number of people and we are pushed to conduct meetings only for a handful of households at a time.
The party is establishing offices for each polling division, but we will not have high visibility for the candidates or their contesting numbers due to the regulations. The new faces that are contesting are facing an unfair situation; they will not have the means to canvass as much they need to.
The Election Commission (EC) should set forth regulations on campaign financing as well; the lack of such regulations only create a bigger divide, including within certain parties that encourage their candidates to advertise on print, electronic, and web media.
There usually isn’t a level playing field at any election, but this time we are even further restricted. Whoever can afford to will place advertisements in heavily circulated print newspapers, run TV/radio advertisements, secure airtime on TV and radio shows, and invest in alternative methods of canvassing too. As a party policy, we generally do not allocate massive budgets for advertising.
Furthermore, even the media framework in our country is biased and tends to give more airtime and primetime slots to political parties they decide to side with. This also hinders the chances of new political parties and politicians reaching out to the masses; it is always the well-to-do and the better connected persons/political parties that exploit the situation.