Political Parties May Be Forced To Clean Up Propaganda Left Behind
It is not unusual to walk along the streets of Costa Rica and still find posters from the last presidential elections. And in some cases, there are posters from past presidential elections still in full view of passersby, adorning trees, light poles, etc.

The reason is simple to explain. Political parties, following an election, forget about their propaganda material and leave it up to someone else for the clean up. But, that may soon change.

Legislators of the Comisión Especial de Partidos Políticos (special commission for party politics) approved a proposal to reform the Código Electoral (elections code) that would obligate political parties to clean up after themselves within 60 days following the conclusion of a political campaign.

Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) legislator, Fernando Sánchez, is behind the proposal who is firm that political parties should pay for the clean up of posters and other election campaign material, including flags, stickers and material on public property.

The lesiglator, who heads the commission, is also proposing that political propaganda should not be erected on public property unless the political party is authorized by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (elections tribunal) and on the condition that it will remove the material immediately following the election.

Sánchez added that the law would also extend to foreign political parties who promote their candidate in Costa Rica, like in the Nicaraguan presidential elections where the parties of several candidates campaigned here for the presidential elections in Nicaragua.