EC’s guidelines sharply cut public cost for general elections
Total spending by the state on Sri Lanka’s general election tomorrow has been sharply reduced to around Rs.7.8 billion from Rs.10.5 billion spent at the January 2015 Presidential election as a result of enforcing stringent guidelines by the Elections Commission, preliminary estimates revealed.
However spending to conduct the August 17 poll by the Commission alone has risen to Rs. 4 billion from Rs.2.5 billion at the January election as officials had to deploy more election staff and materiel including stationery, etc, officials said. The significant reduction in state spending at Monday’s poll was mainly due to curtailment in the use of state resources including vehicles of public sector institutions during the run-up to the general election, a senior government official disclosed.
The Election Commissioner’s programme of charging the expenditure incurred on the use of Government vehicles by Ministers has prevented the normal practice of misusing state vehicles for election propaganda activities, he added. The cost of fuel should also be borne by them personally when the vehicles allocated to them are being used for the promotion of their party/candidature.
All costs relating to the use of aircrafts or helicopters should also be borne by them personally when the aircrafts or helicopters are being used for the promotion of their party/candidature. Payments for the use of vehicles are to be recovered by their relevant Ministries/ Provincial Councils and relevant authorities. Payments relating to the use of aircrafts or helicopters should be made to the relevant institutions.
High spending for election campaigns with public money has also been controlled as a result of implementing election laws sternly by law enforcement authorities, he said, adding that no approval was given for advertisements in both print and electronic media by ministries under the cover of highlighting development activities and project launching ceremonies.
According to officials, action has been taken to recover the expenditure incurred in the removal of any illegal propaganda material which promotes a party or a candidate. Local bodies were requested to remove illegal posters, he said noting that the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission has been directed not to permit anyone to send organized SMS.
According to a 2014 report of the Elections Commissioner, the commission has spent over Rs.1.2 billion to conduct elections last year for local councils.