Topic: Promoting Peaceful Post-Election Transitions
Country: Guyana
Delegate Name: Kiley Matulaitis
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Guyana position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
To have the rights and privlages to elect a countries leader is all part of being part of a democratic society. Elections are the core of every democratic society. When the thought of elections comes up, the first thing that comes to mind is that "the best man wins" and then the country moves on and focuses on it's current issues because everything in the election was fair and there is nothing more to it. However, in reality this is not how post-elections generally turn out. There are many things that can trigger a conflict in post-elections and the conflict may even become violent a nd chaotic.
Guyana has experienced some post-elcetion conflict in the past years and has been trying to promote peace to try and bring the violence to an end. The government has taken great percautions during elcetion time to monitor the people and to make sure nothing starts after the elcetion day. Some things that have been put into order are having the army patrol the streets throughout the country and having the police provide security at polling stations. Gyana's president Bharrat Jagdeo clarified that "We don't intend to be soft on anyone who has intentions of violating the peace.
Many countries also agree with having peaceful post-elections due to the fact that no matter what country it is, most countries don't like violence between their own people occuring. Its bad enough that there is the violence from people oitside of the country and then having to deal with your own people on top of that can be a very stressful task.
As for steps to promoting peaceful post-elections, Guyana has made great improvements on creating peaceful post-elections. Some things Guyana has done to achieve peace after elections include having the Organization of American States (OAS) election monitor past elections. Also All parties that run in the elcetions have recently decided to avoid the objectionable issues of race, religion, and violoence. Another thing is that security forces have made sure that there is a safe environment for people to campaign in. Also President Jagdeo signed into law term-limits of two terms.
