GEORGETOWN, Guyana
(CMC):
Guyanese go to the polls in less than a month with heavy fears that violence and fraud could disrupt the elections and shatter attempts to build peace in this fragile, racially divided country.
Eleven political parties will contest the August 28 polls, which have been pinned down in controversy for months as opposition
parties questioned preparations, including the method of cleaning the voters' register.
The parties filed their nomination papers last Wednesday,
plunging into the race to determine which of them will secure the confidence of the 450,000 electors to govern the country, split between Africans and Indian descendants.
Mindful of rising crime and violence across the country, Dr. Steve Surujbally, chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, and acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene have issued assurances that law enforcement agents will not allow criminal gangs and political hacks to disrupt the polls.
"We have people who are ready to deal with the challenges of elections," Greene assured an anxious nation last week.
Guyana has had its share of political violence and electoral fraud, especially since the early 1990s, and there are lingering concerns that the upcoming polls are heading along the same path.
Emotional appeal
Noted clergyman Bishop Francis Alleyne launched an emotional appeal to Guyanese to renounce violence but laments that many residents here have resigned themselves to a season of political controversy and madness.
"An election should resolve the question of representation and thus set the stage for ongoing peace and progress. Many hope for this, but sadly few that I have spoken with expect this scenario to materialise," Bishop Alleyne said last week.
The anticipated failure is rooted in the old problem of racial suspiciousness which has been crystallised in political loyalty. The governing People's Progressive Party, headed by President Bharrat Jagdeo, draws the base of its support from Indians, while Robert Corbin's People's National Congress Reform relies on blacks for its core support.
Bishop Alleyne recognises the race issue as a major barrier to peace in this Caribbean Community country, located on the eastern edge of South America.
"Whatever else we do, each of us has a solemn responsibility never in word or deed to contribute in any way to racial animosity or confrontation in our country. We should also always work to dissuade any of our associates, who are tempted to, from engaging in words or acts which feed racial hostility or discrimination in any way," he said.
