GUYANA voted on Friday in what must be hailed as a historic election. It was the country’s first Local Government Election in 22 years.After a prolonged debate over Local Government reforms, in which the major political parties could not find common ground, the coalition parties vowed that, if elected, they would hold these long overdue elections.
True to their promise, they have succeeded in ensuring that Guyanese got the opportunity to decide who their local representatives should be.

As one of the countries in the Anglophone Caribbean with a long and rich tradition of Local Governance, it is fitting that Guyana once again takes its place as a beacon of local democracy. Indeed, it was our much acclaimed village movement that pioneered Local Government in the larger Caribbean. To go to the polls and elect local representatives is a fitting tribute to our foreparents, who had the vision to transform former slave plantations into vibrant communities and spaces of freedom from servitude.

While the turnout at Friday’s election was not as large as had been expected, that should not, in any way, sully the exercise. Generally, LGEs have not excited the same level of participation from the citizenry as General Elections, because citizens tend to attach less significance to the LGEs. This, of course, is an area that needs attention as we continue to build a democratic process and culture. This is a responsibility of not just the Government and political parties, but also all civic and social organizations, including churches, trade unions and other NGOs. This matter goes to the heart of our Independence and the role of citizen participation.

Having said the above, we must salute those who turned out to cast their votes; they are an example to those who, for various reasons, did not go to the polls.

Salutations are also in order for the candidates who offered themselves up to serve. Unlike General Elections, LGE requires a larger pool of candidates. That many citizens answered the call is most refreshing. We wish to commend especially those younger candidates, and others, who entered the fray for the first time.

There is no better nursery for leadership than Local Government. It is in this arena that future leaders get opportunity to acquaint themselves with the proverbial nuts and bolts of representative governance.

We also wish to commend those independent candidates who had the courage to compete against the political parties. It was always going to be an uphill task to overcome the various parties’ machinery, but their involvement in the process helped to legitimize our democracy. It appears as if a few of them would become councillors. This would be good for the overall process, as the deliberations would be enriched by their independent input.

There has been much criticism of the level of voter education, with some observers concluding that this was largely responsible for the low voter turnout. While there may be some truth in that conclusion, we feel that a concerted effort had been made to reach voters. The problem is that the voter education can have its desired effect only if the population is open to it. In that regard, perhaps we need to look at a more long-term education initiative, rather than one that revolves around the elections.

We also note that the campaign was violence-free. This has to be a positive development, which we hope is extended to future elections. There was, moreover, the relative absence of race-baiting on the campaign trail. In our ethnically polarised society, that is a huge achievement, for which we should commend ourselves.

We further must congratulate GECOM for making it possible for the media to be able to report results in a timely manner. We have had problems with reposting results in the past, but perhaps we are beginning to turn the corner in this regard.

Now that the elections are over, it is time for the new councils to get down to work. We hope that the Central Government keeps its promise to facilitate a more harmonious relationship with the Local Government representatives. This is a vital requirement for effective governance in the communities.