Political parties still to sign ERC’s code of conduct

Elections 2020

Even as the elections campaigning season has begun, several political parties are yet to sign on to the Ethnic Relations Commission’s Code of Conduct, which is a pledge to ensure these parties’ messages are free of any form of discrimination.
A total of 11 parties was approved to contest the elections. The code of conduct is aimed at ensuring that politicians campaigning for the upcoming March 2 elections are held accountable for their actions.

The code of conduct was sent to all parties contesting the elections. This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission, Dr John Smith, during a press conference on Friday.
“The ERC, during interactions with various political parties, proposed the signing of a code of conduct relevant to the elections period. A draft was shared with the parties for suggested inputs. The Commission remains optimistic for a public signing in the near future. The Commission also anticipates a similar code of conduct from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). It is hopeful that upon signing, the content of both would be honoured,” the Chairman told the media on Friday.
Meanwhile, ERC Commissioner Neaz Subhan explained that the Commission met with all political parties contesting the elections to brief them about the code of conduct to ensure free, fair and credible elections in a harmonious way.
“What the ERC did, having met with all political parties, and this is prior to Nomination Day, we shared with them a draft of a proposed code of conduct, all the parties, but after Nomination Day and we have sent that letter to them subsequently officially asking them if they would accept it officially and give them an opportunity to put any inputs they may want.”
The Commissioner added that only one political party has responded to the code of conduct.
“Come Nomination Day, we realised there are others that we may not have been in contact with, so we reached out to them and extended that deadline [for feedback] so that deadline expires today (Friday) or Monday for them to send in their inputs and while we have received one response with some suggested inputs, we are hopeful that by or on before the expiration of the new deadline that we can have more come in,” Subhan noted.
The ERC is currently empowered to recommend the banning of political parties from participating in elections if it is found guilty of breaching laws dealing with ethnicity. However, over the years, no action was ever taken against groups or individuals for breaching such laws.
The code of conduct will address the conduct of politicians in all public forums, including political rallies.
After several years of being defunct, a new ERC was established in 2018.
The body’s mandate is to provide equality of opportunity between persons of different ethnic groups and to promote harmony and good relations between such persons and provide the elimination of all forms of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.
It is also required to discourage and prohibit persons, institutions, political parties and associates from indulging in, advocating or promoting discriminatory practices on the ground of ethnicity.