(THE  following editorial is reprinted, courtesy of yesterday’s edition of the Barbados Daily Nation)
HOLDING constitutionally due elections — or even snap polls within a five-year-term — has evolved as virtually an institutionalised pattern of multi-party democratic governance within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In addition, following the political aberration that was Guyana’s for a pretty long period, it is now the norm for national elections in CARICOM states to be independently supervised by invited regional and international observers.
Consequently, Guyana, which will hold new parliamentary and presidential elections on November 28, has already extended the official invitations. This will also be the case when Jamaica  holds an expected, snap national poll early next year.
In this region’s post-independence history, increasing attention has been paid to the role of the media, private and state-owned, to ensure fair and balanced coverage for elections and to steer away from reporting and commentary that could inflame passions and result in unlawful behaviour, as have occurred in some elections in, for instance, Jamaica and Guyana.
In Guyana, it has also become the pattern, following the restoration of internationally supervised free and fair elections in October 1992, for the media to sign a Code of Conduct that could help in avoiding conflicts and enhancing fair and balanced coverage consistent with established ethical norms of the journalism profession.
It is in the context of the responsible role expected  of  the media  in Guyana for next month’s elections that we regard as a mature political decision by President Jagdeo to withdraw the recently-instituted four-month suspension of the broadcast licence of  the  privately-owned CNS TV6 to take effect instead from December 1—two days after the November poll. The suspension, which had resulted from allegedly defamatory statements broadcast last May 4 against chairman of Guyana’s Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) Bishop Juan Edghill, that prompted him to institute legal proceedings, was deemed to be a “gross violation” of the terms of the broadcasting licence issued to CNS TV6. It also followed a recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB).            However, in the face of protests by civic society groups and the political opposition, President Jagdeo announced on Sunday temporary withdrawal of the suspension and said the action by the government could not now be correctly viewed as having to do with the elections.
It is, of course, difficult to avoid such a linkage. Yet, Jagdeo’s decision does reflect political maturity and respect for divergent  opinions in a multi-party democracy.