When the Sri Lankan president's party formed an unlikely electoral alliance with Marxists, one of their first concerns was choosing an eye-catching logo.
With no time to register as a new party, President Chandrika Kuma-ratunga's joint force took over a small party in hibernation and changed its butterfly symbol to a betel leaf.
PHOTO: AP
Her People's Alliance ditched its old logo of a chair while the Marxists JVP, or People's Liberation Front, dumped their "bell" symbol, and they united under a new ban-ner, the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
The traditionally auspicious betel leaf will now do battle with the "elephant" of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's right-wing United National Party in Friday's general election.
"We wanted the blue lotus flower for our new alliance, but the elections commissioner said he cannot give us a symbol which is already the country's national flower," said Mangala Samaraweera, a top aide to Kumaratunga.
With eagles, tortoises, rabbits, horses, bull-drawn carts, three-wheel auto-rickshaws, aircraft, school buses, lamps and cups all competing for space on the ballot papers on April 2, having a distinctive symbol can be crucial.
Even though Sri Lanka boasts a high literacy rate, parties are identified by symbols to ensure that even the few who are unable to read and write can vote by marking an X in front of a symbol.
With margins expected to be narrow, every vote counts.
Wry observers have suggested, however, that some parties would be more appropriately identified by automatic-assault rifles, rocket launchers and grenades rather than their classical musical instruments, and sail ships and anchors.
The Tamil Tiger rebels, who have a tiger with out-stretched paws as their insignia, are not contesting the elections.
But their proxies, the Tamil National Alliance, are represented by a house -- a symbol of comfort and solidity that resonates in Tamil-dominated northern and eastern regions, where few buildings have been spared some form of damage during three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has claimed over 60,000 lives.
There are 24 recognized political parties and 192 independent political groups in the fray at Friday's polls, but some have entered the hustings only to canvas votes for one of the two main parties.
Most of the independent groups are in the running only to use the free radio and television air time allocated to the candidates irrespective of their support base.
The Sri Lanka National Front, which has a cricket bat as its symbol, is actually batting for Kumaratunga's party.
Under election laws the exhibition of party symbols near polling booths on the day of voting is an offence, but most of the objects used in a polling station -- desks, chairs, tables, pens, clocks -- are already party symbols.
When it comes to a visible symbol with impact, though, it might be hard to topple the UNP's elephant.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS