The current elections campaign in its earlier period was taking a civil course and proceeding smoothly, however as it is approaching its peak some very disturbing events are taking place which is not sending an encouraging signal to the electorate and should be vehemently condemned by all.
First there was the damage to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) billboards and posters, then there was the ruckus at the meeting in Buxton and now once again supporters from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) reportedly disrupted another PPP/C meeting in Victoria on the East Coast Demerara.
According to a report which appeared in this newspaper, it is understood that a crowd of APNU supporters, some of whom are reported to have been bused into Victoria, proceeded to disrupt the meeting, including violently attacking PPP/C’s Afro-Guyanese activists at the meeting. This culminated in one of the PPP/C’s activists being doused in kerosene oil and was about to be set afire.

Reports said there was a PPP/C public meeting scheduled to take place at Victoria gas station road, in front of the Victoria primary school at 18:00 hrs on Wednesday.
Former PNCR member Mr. Joseph Hamilton, who recently joined the PPP/C on the 2011 campaign trail, was the first speaker and he began to speak at about 18:15 hrs.
There were about 150 persons gathered at the place of the meeting. A majority of them were armed with APNU posters and placards bearing the name APNU and bearing derogatory and racist remarks regarding Mr. Hamilton and the PPP/C.
A little bit of heckling at political meetings during an election season is quite normal. It goes with the territory, but when a meeting of a political party is disrupted by physical means and the use of racist remarks then the boundaries are definitely being overstepped.
It is the duty of the leadership of the party, whose supporters are going beyond the limits of acceptable behaviour, to bring them in line. Failing to do so would portray a sense of irresponsibility and would make voters who probably were inclined to vote for the said party to re-think their position, because they may reason that, how could they elect persons with such irresponsible behaviour to govern a whole country.
However, the present political scenario raises a few searching questions. Is the current disruptive behavior, by some of APNU’s supporters, an indication that the party has already conceded defeat and is therefore moving towards “Plan B”? Is this disruptive behaviour a ploy to derail the electoral process? Is this an indication of what is to come on elections day and post elections? Is it a tactic to drive fear into the electorate to scare them away from voting on elections day?
One would hope that the answers to these questions are in the negative as if they are in the affirmative the end result would not be what the overwhelming majority of Guyanese are looking forward to.
But when one considers what was said by a leading supporter of the main party, in APNU, a few months ago with respect to power sharing and combining this with what is happening, then the above questions will inevitably arise. Also, it has to be recalled that an executive member of that party recently said that the delay in the launch of its manifesto would not influence its support. This may seemingly be a simple statement but it begs the question of which party hoping to win an election would dismiss a manifesto as nothing of serious consequence because it is that document which contains all the plans and economic policies and programmes, which that party would implement should it win an election. So could this be another indication that APNU has conceded defeat and therefore instead of placing resources into producing a manifesto it would be better to divert same into “Plan B.”
Whatever the answers are to these questions it is imperative that political parties ensure their members and supporters behave and act in a civil manner and in accordance with the norms of the Code of Conduct which all the major parties have latched on to.
After all, the progress of this country is of primary importance and elections are only part of that process and, therefore, any political party which is patriotic and puts the interest of the country first would not do things that are counter productive.