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.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS