Poster problems for election candidates Ryan and Maphoso

dublin | politics / elections | news report

Wednesday June 03, 2009 20:26

by Sparky

Ahead of Friday's poll, two election candidates have been facing quite different problems getting their message out through campaign posters.

For Eoin Ryan, posters featuring an image of the candidate holding up a sign clearly proved too inviting for those harbouring anti-FF sentiment. As evident this morning on Gardiner Street, a fly-poster had subverted Ryan's message overnight with the slogans 'Fianna Fail don't care about you' and 'Fianna Fail created this mess'.

By contrast, immigrant candidate Patrick Maphoso (Independent, North Inner City) has faced an altogether more serious challenge, with dozens of his election posters disappearing altogether.

"It does look like there has been a systematic effort to remove them in some areas, notably the East Wall," says Maphoso. "I think all candidates should expect poster casualties along the way, but when you have just one black guy standing and his posters disappear in numbers while others stay largely untouched then I don't think we're talking bad luck."

"I was actually stopped by some boys on Parnell Street who said they knew people who were were taking down and BURNING my posters," he continues. "Whatever the truth, just keeping posters up has been a bigger challenge than I'd hoped in this election."

A second poster 'redesign' spotted this morning on Gardiner Street