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GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC- Amid fears of possible violence, the people of Guyana go to the polls on Monday to elect a new head of state and parliament that many observers here hope will signal the end of racially-based politics in this Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
From the three-year-old Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to the major political parties, there is a quiet optimism that voters will analyse the issues debated on the campaign trail rather than revert to race to elect a new government to administer the affairs of the cooperative republic for the next five years.
John Williems, ERC’s Acting Chairman, said that he was heartened by the response, mainly from young Guyanese, whom he dubbed, “the new generation” that have been vocal in their condemnation of the “traditional racial problem in Guyana” even though “the major parties are both saying that they are not racially inclined”.
Newly appointed British High Commissioner to Guyana, Fraser Wheeler, said it was encouraging to note that the campaign had moved away from the “disturbing nonsense about race that has characterised previous elections”.
Wheeler said Britain would continue to support the work of the organisations such as the ERC and the Inter-Religious Organisation “that challenge incitement to racial hatred and promise non-violence”.
The authorities have warned that they do not intend to be “soft on anyone who intends to violate the peace” and that the army would be patrolling the streets during and after the election period.
But such an assurance has not prevented many business owners in the capital, at least, from bolting down their establishments, conscious no doubt that the past two general elections here have resulted in some form of violence.
The murder of five media workers at a local newspaper and the brazen day light robbery of two banks earlier this month have not helped ease the tension, and political leaders have been urged to restrain their supporters from engaging in any act of violence, once the results are known.
Incumbent President and leader of the ruling Indo-based People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC), Bharrat Jagdeo, has already signalled that he intends to invite as many opposition figures into his government should the party be returned to power.
“It is always better when all the people of the country work together and we don’t have the politics of the past” he said.
Even the leaders of the two political parties likely to present the biggest challenge to the PPPC have also welcomed the move away from the traditional use of race for support and a concentration on the issues, such as the economy, international trade, crime, the illegal drug trade, unemployment, and housing among others.
For example, the ruling party contends that over the last 14 years it had been able to turn around a debt ridden country, improve the socio-economic conditions and have started the process of modernisation, even as the opposition parties argue that this is not so and in fact the country has accumulated new debt totalling US$1.5 billion.
Robert Corbin, leader of the main opposition Peoples’s National Congress Reform -One Guyana (PNCR-IG) said he contesting the elections with a team “embracing all the people of Guyana of every political persuasion, race, class and economic background”.
But he admitted that “race is a factor in every elections” in Guyana.
For its part, the newly formed Alliance for Change (AFC), whose leadership has been drawn from the PPP/C and the Afro-Guyanese based PNCR-IG, has been campaigning on the need to “make the bold step of breaking away from the old racial politics”.
“We are very conscious of the scare tactics, which will be used against all who wish to make a change. But race based politics must stop. We must stand up for what is right,” the party said in its manifesto.
Guyana’s population of just over 750,000 is made up mainly of persons of Indian and African descent, with the Afro-Guyanese community accounting for 38 per cent.
Ten political parties will contest the election on Monday, a public holiday declared by the government so as to encourage voters to exercise their democratic right to choose a new government.
In the 2001 elections, the PPPC won 34 seats, while the PNCR controlled 27 and the smaller parties, the remainder, in the 65-seat legislature. But while the PPPC controlled the national assembly, the electoral results showed that compared to 1997, it lost almost 11,000 votes when it received the backing of 209,031 voters in 2001 as compared with 220,138, five years earlier.
The PNCR on the other hand, saw its support climbed from 161,719 in 1997 to 164,074 in 2001.
But recent opinion polls published here show that the PNC-IG, which governed the country for 28 years until 1992, has lost ground to the AFC raising fears of a possible hung parliament and the new party holding the balance of power.
“We will use that power, if we become the balance of power, responsibly and that is to support initiatives that we believe are in Guyana’s best interest and which represent the will of the people,” said the AFC’s leader Raphael Trotman.
The elections are being held in a climate of uncertainty and fear amid concerns of possible violence and even legal battles mainly due to the composition of the voters’ list.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which had requested and given a month’s extension from the constitutional deadline in July for holding the polls, insist that the 490,000 voters on the list reflect a true picture of the situation in the country.
“If every thing goes right it ought to be the best elections we have ever hard. We have assiduously worked hard to ensure transparency and fairness and presenting a level playing field to all combatants,” Dr. Steve Surujbally, GECOM’s Chairman told CMC.
The opposition political parties have said they would hold GECOM responsible for any failure or voter irregularity on Monday, claiming that the list is padded with persons who have either died or migrated and that such a situation would allow for multiple voting and other irregularities.
Corbin said that while his party had raised several objections to various “irregularities” within the compilation of the voters’ list, it had decided in the end to contest the polls.
“”We entered the electoral process despite our grave concerns at the level of preparations by GECOM for this election. We waged a campaign for several months to have a proper voters’ list prepared. The Elections Commission has failed to honour that commitment, “he said.
But Surujbally has dismissed the concerns of the opposition saying “politicians, especially in this season, have to do what politicians do and that is they are engaged in politicking”.
He said GECOM had established a “menu of measures” including the introduction of identification cards with the photographs of the voter in order to limit irregularities.
“This election can withstand national and international scrutiny, and reflects the best practice, that alone should give the electors and the political parties, a great feeling of our own credibility, we are not their enemy,” he added.
The polls will be monitored by hundreds of observers from CARICOM, the Carter Centre in the United States, the Organisation of American States and the Commonwealth, in addition to local monitoring groups.
“Monday is an important day for the people of Guyana and we share the hope of all that they will exercise their constitutional right to determine the direction of Guyana for the next five years,” said Hensley Robinson, former Barbados chief elections officer and head of the CARICOM mission.