TWO of the eight political parties that have entered the 2015 General and Regional elections race, the United Republican Party (URP) and the Healing the Nation Theocracy Party (HTNT), have signed onto the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) code of conduct.GECOM’s Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally told the Guyana Chronicle that The United Force (TUF) has given an assurance that it will also sign the Code .
“APNU+AFC [A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change] has indicated that they saw nothing substantial that would constrain them from signing,” he said.
Dr Surujbally added that the ruling People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) had indicated to him that the party was not in receipt of the requite documents and have requested that the Commission resend them.
“I have resent those documents,” he said.
The other three parties, according to him, have not responded to the Commission. These include: the Independent Party (IP); the Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP); and the National Independence Party (NIP).
Several stakeholders in the electoral process, including the Private Sector Commission (PSC), have called on political parties to sign GECOM’s Code of Conduct.
Over the weekend, the Code was circulated, and political parties were expected to respond to GECOM with recommendations to inform the finalisation of the document by Wednesday.
The Code of Conduct for political parties is a guide to expected behaviours in the lead-up to the May 11 General and Regional Elections.
Once political parties sign onto the Code of Conduct, it is expected that they would abide by the protocols documented in the Code, all in the interest of free and fair General and Regional Elections.
The advantage of having such an agreement in place, according to GECOM, relates to being able to guard against confrontational and vitriolic election campaign meetings/rallies and statements.
GECOM regards contesting parties signing the Code as demonstrating their willingness to craft their respective election campaign strategies in ways that contribute to the maintenance of peace and tranquility throughout and beyond the elections. (Vanessa Narine)
