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.
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