The following editorial appeared yesterday in the Guyana-based newspaper, Stabroek News.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CANA:
PERHAPS THE two major parties do not realise how exasperated the electorate is with their advertising campaigns. We are well beyond saturation point. It is not even as if the ads are brief and snappy, while the constant repetition insults the voters' intelligence. The approach assumes that those who hold the franchise in this country are so lacking in independent judgement that they need to be brainwashed, rather than persuaded.
It might be added that the technical quality and the conceptualisation of many of the commercials have been extremely poor this time around, with their delivery turgid and the messages both oversimplified and inaccurate.
Of course, accuracy was never a feature of political campaigns in general, it is just that to ground a campaign on advertising in particular is in some way to debase the culture of political debate. And some genuine exchanges in this pre-election period would surely not come amiss.
The political meetings also have been of a none too inspiring kind, with more ad hominem attacks on some hustings than is justified, and not enough talk about policies and programmes. Even the witty hecklers at the meetings of an earlier era seem to have become extinct. It is either the faithful who attend in such large numbers that no heckler dare put in an appearance, or else it is the disbelievers alone in attendance, who feel no compunction whatever to listen to the speakers and respond accordingly.
The older generation will, perhaps, remember with nostalgia both the late Presidents Burnham and Jagan, who in the earlier days welcomed hecklers, and interrupted their addresses to answer them. Mr Burnham in particular, enjoyed the opportunity to show off his skills of witty repartee. But they dealt with genuine heckling, of course, rather than the modern version of mindless chanting.
In this climate, it is particularly unfortunate that up to press time, President Jagdeo and Mr Hoyte had not responded to the Guyana Elections Commission's invitation to participate in televised debates with the other presidential candidates. These, at least, while limited in scope, would have given the voters some opportunity to make direct comparisons. If either of the two major candidates were still to agree, then the political pressure would fall on the other to follow suit. It is now so close to election day, however, it might be difficult to organise the debates even if a major candidate were to come forward. This might be yet another missed opportunity in what is the most depressing campaign season of the last eight-and-a-half years.
The most serious omission on the part of the parties in this campaign, however, is not even their avoidance of direct debate, it is their failure to sign the Guyana Elections Commission Code of Conduct. We have a little more than a week to go before the election, so what excuse could they possibly have had for not appending their signatures before this?
Since we are so close to the election, and it is too late to redeem the campaigns now, perhaps the parties could do some good using their influence to persuade their supporters to collect their ID cards, and to urge them to exercise their franchise.
And, of course, even at this late stage, they should still sign the Code of Conduct.
