Political parties urged to honour election code of conduct

By Michael Younge 

The five political parties that are to contest this year’s general and regional elections signed the Guyana Elections Commission’s revised Code of Conduct for Political Parties at a simple ceremony held at the Umana Yana in Georgetown on November 11.

The persons that signed on behalf of the political parties were the presidential candidates: Donald Ramotar of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic, David Granger of A Partnership for National Unity, Khemraj Ramjattan of Alliance For Change, Peter Persaud of The United Force, as well as a representative of the East Berbice Development Association, David Subhnauth.

Delivering the feature address was GECOM Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally who told the signatories that they must see the document that they have signed as “their Holy Grail”. Surujbally said that simply signing the document was not enough and political parties must realise that they also need to honour the principles, rules and guidelines set out in the code of conduct.

He said that he was proud that the political parties took the step to be part of this historic occasion, which he said has set the stage high for other political parties that will contest future elections. Dr Surujbally explained that the move to sign the comprehensive documents signals “the coming of age of political maturity” in the country.

“Signing on to the code is simply the right and decent thing to do… adherence to the code elevates all concerned to our moral high ground, away from the currently deteriorating thrust…of political campaigning,” Dr Surujbally advised.

He said too that the code “is here to stay”, explaining that it is self-regulatory and all parties must make a special effort to practice what they preach. He stated that “now that you have talked the talk, it’s time to walk the walk”.

“GECOM must not be placed in the position of trying to manage and execute credible elections in an environment of hostility and turmoil, you cannot ask us to do this,” Surujbally insisted. The GECOM chairman was adamant that campaign behaviour must result in what he referred to as “healing” as opposed to divisions, hostility, and the promotion of disharmony.

In further congratulating the signatories, Surujbally opined that the code “was not complex or complicated”, but had benefited from the input of a wide cross-section of experts, including the political parties which have made suggestions about the need for certain additions to the historic document.

Meanwhile, Ramotar said that his party was pleased to have been the first group that saw the need and urgency, as well as importance of signing the code of conduct. He said that the party made the decision to sign the first code, because the principles outlined in the code are similar to the positions taken by the PPP/C on various issues.

He said that he expects that the opposition parties which signed the code will honour the commitments outlined clearly in the document. “We have always been the victims of all sorts of mischief, misinformation, attacks on the campaign trail, and other abuses executed by the opposition and so this code to us is a step in the right direction,” Ramotar said.

Similarly, the TUF presidential hopeful expressed the view that the document demanded that political parties conduct elections campaigns on the basis of “civility” and in a manner that sets good examples for the youth who are closely observing the behaviours of the politicians.

Granger explained that he too hopes that political parties honour the code that they have signed. He also alluded to a plethora of issues which though referred to in the code were not in his mind “adequately dealt with”. Ramjattan was unavailable to comment on the issue.