i

WORLD

PPP will contest Guyana vote,
but warns of new election fraud

Despite calls by the Peoples Progres-
Sive Party for a broad-based united
government to address the crisis-ridden
Guyanese economy, the ruling People’s
National Party of Desmond Hoyte last
week called a snap election for Dec. 9.

Reached at his Georgetown offices,
PPP leader and leader of the Parlia-
mentary opposition, Dr. Cheddi Jagan,
nae ne interview to the Tribune on

OV. 4:

* * *

_ We are going to contest the elec-
tion,” Jagan said. ‘‘But we have prob-
lems reaching the interior of the country.
They have given us one week only (until
Nov. 7) to nominate candidates. Four of
the eleven regions are in the interior.

‘We have asked the Election Commis-
Sion to extend the nomination period by
two weeks. At this moment we don’t
have their answer.

‘We have been calling for electoral

_ Teforms, to ensure we have a free and fair

election,” Jagan continued. ‘‘The main
Problem here is ballot box tampering by
the army and the actual highjacking of
ballot boxes. By this device the ruling
party 1s able to switch votes.

We have been demanding, since the

1968 elections, that ballots be counted at
the place of poll, at least a preliminary
count. This the PNC is not prepared to
give.

‘‘President Hoyte last night, however,
said they will allow agents of the opposi-
tion parties to accompany the ballot box-
es. But our experience with that,’’ Jagan
said, ‘‘is that during the 1979 and 1983
elections the military seized the boxes
and in some cases prevented our agents
from following them.

‘They refused to permit our agents in
the same vehicle and, when we followed
in another vehicle, we’ve had instances
where our vehicles were stopped and
searched while the army took away the
boxes. In other cases, our agents were
allowed inside the vehicle, but on the
way they were thrown out.

‘‘And so, despite the President’s an-
nouncement, we are not happy with this
arrangement because we don’t know
exactly what this means. We’re seeking
clarification on this issue.

On the contentious issue of overseas
voting where in the past thousands of
fraudulent cases were found, the
government announced it would now re-
strict votes to Guyanese nationals work-

OTTAWA — A celebration meeting
took place here recently to mark tr
third anniversary of the founding of ¢
Lebanese National Resistance Front
which included political messages and
Songs of resistance. Speakers included
Fouad Alrafidi on behalf of the Pales-
tinian National Salvation Front and
Stathis Stathopoulos who brought greet-
ings on behalf of the Communist Party of
aaa

Lebanon Resistance anniversary

In his remarks, LNRF spokesperson
Malek Khoury said the Front enjoys
reat support among the people of Leba-
non, ‘“‘without which it would not have
achieved the victories it has.’’ He spoke
of the work to maintain a dignified life
for families of the Front’s martyrs in the
areas destroyed by Israeli aggression and
called on Canadians to support this
effort.

ee

ing and studying abroad. ‘‘But we are
still not happy about the means of con-
trolling the fate of these ballots,’ Jagan
said. ‘‘As you know, he PNC has abso-
lute control of such ballots, claiming 97
per cent overseas support in past
elections.”

Jagan then said the PNC has intro-
duced a new mechanism for this election
whereby all ‘‘discipline forces’’ (police,
army, militia, prison and fire services,
etc.) may vote either by proxy or on a
special day before voting day, or on vot-
ing day.

“You can’t control proxy voting,”
Jagan continued. ‘‘And by voting early,
the PNC has full control of ballot boxes
until election day. Therefore we are op-
posed to this mechanism which gives the
PNC complete control of some 25-35,000
votes which could bring in a new area of
fraud.’’ The whole thing is one mess-
up,”’ he said.

‘The main point is that the PNC can-
not win without ballot tampering,”
charged Jagan. To make this point clear,
he said that in the PNC stronghold of
Georgetown, voter turn-out in 1961 was
95 per cent. By 1965 it dropped to 60-65
per cent. By the 1978 referendum, the
turn-out was 15 per cent. ‘‘And the PNC
has lost much more support since 1978,”
he said. ‘‘This is also seen in the PNC
loss of control of the two bauxite unions
and the trade Union Council.”

“The PPP proposed to the PNC that a
National Patriotic Front government is
the only way Guyana could have free and
fair elections,’ Jagan continued. “‘But
they have made up their mind to proceed
with the elections on Dec. 9.

“Our position is that if they rig this:

election, mass alienation will continue.
And if they’re looking to the U.S. for
help, Jamaica provides an excellent ex-
ample to what this would mean.

TRIBUNE PHOTO —MIKE PHILLIPS

JAGAN: “If they rig this election, mass
alienation will continue -..”

‘The alternative is to build a National
Patriotic Front government and to pro-
ceed to solve the country’s problems
with the help of the non-aligned countries
and socialist states,’’ Jagan said.

Asked about international ob-
servers,which in the past have severely
criticized PNC vote rigging, Jagan said
the PNC regime has stated clearly that no
observers will be permitted, though
journalists will be allowed. ‘‘But we al-
ready have examples of intensified air-
port security and strict visa rules,”’ he
said. ‘‘They are afraid of international
criticism of the fraud they will be carry-
ing out.”

Jagan concluded by calling on Cana-
dians to send letters to president Hoyte
and the Elections Commission chairman
at the National Assembly buildings in
Georgetown,..calling for votes to be
counted at the polls, for all opposition
party agents to be allowed to accompany ~
ballot boxes in transit, and that the armed
forces desist from intervening in the elec-
toral process.

ne

International Focus

Tom Morris

planned obsolescence from the

comedy goes on.

Tragic it is,

report reveals the Department

fans today follow the exploits

Shopping in the
U.S. junkyard
The exploits of U.S. military
Suppliers are legend. For years
We've heard about state-of-
the-art weapons that don’t
Work, of $65 bolts that sell for
Cents at the hardware store,
and of merciless padding and
Matching profits.

And Canada’s armed forces
aren’t immune, tied as they are
to NATO, and its correspond-
Ing reliance on U.S. suppliers.

The ‘hot’? McDonnell-
Douglas F-18 was selected in
the late 1970s to re-equip our
airforce and the price was

8-million each. Since, the

| Cost has jumped to close to

“million, bringing a previ-
Cus total bill of $3-billion to
$8.5-billion,

_ Then to our horror, we
found the aircraft has problems
ying in adverse weather and
hess. Two weeks ago the
aa navy charged the F-18
<8 a serious design flaw
Which could cause the air-
at's wings to fall off.’’ De-
_ $I8ned to last 6,000 flight hours,
Stress tests show the F-18 may
Only last 2,000 hours.

You'd almost think the air-

industry had learned

auto industry.
* * *

Less than two years ago the
Canadian army ordered 81,500
M-16 rifles at a cost of $107-
million only to discover last
month that the U.S. army 1s
dumping it due to deficiencies.

Having used the weapon
since the mid-1960s, the
Americans now say it has aim-
ing problems and jams. In addi-
tion, we're paying $1,314 each
for the M-16 which sells for
$660 in the U.S. And the

too, for the billions poured
down the bottomless well are
so urgently needed for scores
of home programs. Quite an
expensive lesson we’re getting
in dealing with American busi-
ness as we begin ‘‘free trade”’
talks with Washington.

Tories at
the trough

While on the subject of the
porkbarrel, just one day’s
paper (Nov. 5) gives us this:

e The Auditor-General’s

Ll

TX

ce PRoGLEM WITH
Ged ERS PANS

of External Affairs spent
$773,500 for initiation fees to a
yacht and recreation club in
Hong Kong for 34 Canadian
personnel stationed there.

e Repairs and new appli-
ances for the kitchen at the re-
sidence of Governor-General
Jeanne Sauve, Rideau Hall,
will cost the taxpayers of
Canada $600,000.

e Former Envrionment
Minister Blais-Grenier spent
more than $30,000 last spring
on two trips to Europe includ-
ing $4,000 in limousine costs.
One of the trips, to Stockholm,
cost $17,000 and involved a
meeting which was cancelled
10 days before Blais-Grenier
left Canada.

Where do we sign up for the

Tory party?

Jocks with
a difference

North American sports
jocks often assume nicknames
which, if they make it big, are
gleefully taken up by sports
announcers and repeated ad
nauseum.

Who hasn’t heard of
‘*‘Babe’’ Ruth, Wilt ‘‘The
Stilt’? Chamberlain or

**Rocket’’ Richard? Football

of William ‘‘The Refrigerator”’
Perry who toils for the Chicago
Bears. Years ago we watched
O.J. Simpson, “‘The Juice”
and ‘Too Tall’’ Jones.

It seems this quaint tradition
isn’t native to North America.
In South Africa, too, local
jocks wear nicknames — but
with a difference.

A reader sent along the latest
issue of his old high school’s
bulletin which amazingly still
reaches him over the years and
across the ocean. It’s a folksy
thing: old team photos, re-
unions, club news and ads
from “‘old boys’’ now in busi-
ness.

Our reader points out that
white South African males
have national military ser-
vices, and so we find this cozy
item tucked away under
“Rugby News’’ in the Ju-
ly/August issue of the Durban
High School Bulletin:

“The 1985 season may not
go down in history as the
greatest of years but the team
has achieved some memorable
victories. (It) was led courage-
ously by Nick ‘‘Take No Pri-
soners’’ Colepeper and ably
assisted by another regular,
Gordon ‘‘Kill the Women and
Children First’’ Elves.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 13, 1985 e 9