St. Lucia Simply Beautiful

UPDATE 18/7/06

Edward Harris on the Campaign Trail in Guyana!!!

I arrived in Guyana on July 7, 2006 and got into the AFC Campaign action immediately. Everyday brings new challenges but I am supported by a formidable group of Activists and we are all very proud of the leadership of our Movement – Alliance for Change with the slogan “Don’t Vote Race – Vote Change” and a sub theme “Unlocking the Future” It is interesting to note that our leaders were formerly attached to the major political parties in Guyana. Our Leadership comprises of: Mr. Raphael Trotman, Chairman and Presidential Candidate, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader and Prime Ministerial Candidate and Mrs. Sheila Holder, Vice Chairman.

Guyana in spite of being located on the mainland of South America, due to its colonial past is the largest country in the Caribbean Grouping of English Speaking Countries known as CARICOM. The country for several decades has been locked in racial strife which has been used as factor for attracting votes to the two major political parties.

The electoral system until now has been manipulated by both major parties when in government and massive rigging occurred in the past. Today with the help of the international donor countries changes in several areas of the process have finally been implemented and my Party is prepared to accept the final voters list which is scheduled to be released by the Guyana Electoral Commission (GECOM) www.gecom.org.gy within days.

As we approach Nomination Day, political parties are hard pressed to deliver on their list of Candidates for the National Elections and the Regional Democratic Council. We vote for on Election Day for a President, National Assembly Parliamentarians and Regional Democratic Councillors. On Election Day, the party will need 2,000 Scrutineers to oversee the election. This calls for massive mobilization.

The Alliance for Change (AFC) although launched only 9 months ago is about the change the political landscape in our country. I am extremely excited about the possibilities and I am very pleased to be a part of the Campaign Team as the Campaign Operations Manager (COM).

During the 1997 campaign I headed the Guyana Democratic Party (GDP) Campaign under the Leadership of Mr. Asgar Ali. Today, things are different. The vote count at the place of poll will be handled differently and at the end, the Scrutineers will be provided with a tally of the votes which will be signed off by all present at the sealing of the ballot boxes which will not be subject to tampering as in previous times when boxes were taken to special counting places and disappeared in the process, only to be returned subsequently. The International Diplomatic Community has done a great job in ensuring that elections in Guyana are finally acceptable to the majority of citizens.

The ground swell of support is extraordinary and with the mood of the citizens today where everyone is calling for change, the exit poll and final declaration could well yield a WIN for the Alliance for Change (AFC) and the People of Guyana.

Stayed tuned and visits our website at www.afcguyana.com This site is regularly updated.

Long Live Guyana!!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 4:11 PM and is filed under Articles, Ed Harris. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.