The National Centre for Election Monitoring in Sri Lanka (NCEMSL) yesterday requested from the Election Commission and the Government to ensure equal access to fuel and paper bundles for all candidates of the upcoming Local Government (LG) Elections, for campaigning purposes.
It requested them to come up with a mechanism to provide unlimited fuel to all candidates during the election period, and to provide them at least with 10,000 A3 papers at a fair price for campaigning.
The letter, undersigned by the Centre’s Executive Director S. B. Herath, stated that these measures would be needed to make the ground equal and fair for all candidates.
“Distribution of handbills is one of the main methods of electioneering. Due to the prevailing shortage of papers, the candidates may not have equal access to them. The prices of papers may soar and there can also be a shortage of them. The frontline leaders of political parties, all candidates and all government servants, who are on election duty, must be given unlimited fuel during the period of election. The scheduled power cuts should be avoided during that period as house to house campaigning will be difficult with power cuts,” the letter stated.
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