A propaganda  jilmaat

Editorial-March 13, 2014

The UNP has said it will register its strong protest with Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya against a recent television discussion with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, flanked by some of his ministers, aired on several channels simultaneously. The President, in his capacity as the SLFP leader, is openly campaigning for the UPFA coalition which he represents, ahead of the Southern and Western Provincial Council elections, and, therefore, that telecast amounts to a breach of polls laws, the UNP has argued .

Several such discussions with President have been telecast during the last several years, and the government cannot dupe the public into believing that last week's one was not part of the UPFA's PC polls campaign. IT was a propaganda jilmaat ! The law may not prevent the President from using the media to discuss his government's development programme in the run-up to an election, but it is inevitable that he is seen to be unfairly using his office to advantage in an electoral race. It, in our book, is a question of morality rather than legality. 

The Polls Chief may be helpless because the President enjoys legal immunity; he has no powers to call the executive to account. All the Progressive neutralised the 18th Amendment provisions in the 17th Amendment which has effectively rendered him powerless was calculated-VIS VIS- the President.  

If the government is really confident of winning the upcoming polls fair and square as it claims to be, there is no reason why is should resort to controversial methods to take undue advantage over the Opposition which, it says, is in disarray. It ought to leave no room for its opponents to cry foul if it is really confident. The least it could do by way of making amends is to ensure that the Opposition gets adequate coverage from the state media.

IT said the UNP has the Polls Chief's intervention will seek to obtain air a program like Time for the President's Janahamuwa Last Week. Whether the latter will be able to do so we do not know, but in the most unlikely event of its wish being granted, the challenge before the former will be to nominate representatives for such a programme. The Opposition team will have to consist of at least representatives from the parties in the PC polls fray like the UNP, the JVP and the Democratic Party (DP).  

Pulling in different directions these parties will find it difficult to make common cause to launch an effective propaganda onslaught against the government. The JVP has already ridiculed the UNP's strategy aimed at toppling the government. Its trade union heavyweight Lal Kantha, addressing a recent public rally, called the UNP's campaign ineffectual and incapable of posing a serious challenge to the government. The DP, emboldened by its performance at the last round of PC polls, is working overtime to eat into the vote bases of the UNP and the JVP. DP leader Gen. Sarath Fonseka says he is confident that his party has the potential to emerge as the second political force in time to come. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has asked the people to exercise their franchise wisely without voting for smaller parties. The other parties in the Opposition will not take kindly to his call. So, the question is whether the key Opposition parties contesting the forthcoming PC polls will be able to sink their differences to share a platform. Their disunity has been the government's strength.

However, the fact remains that the UPFA has been abusing its position as the party in power to gain undue propaganda mileage. That practice must be discontinued if a level playing field is to be ensured for all parties in the fray if elections are to be free and fair.

It will be interesting to see what the Polls Chief's response to the UNP's request will be.