A series of frightening crimes will be the minds of Guyanese voters as they go to polls next week in an election likely to be won by the youthful President Bharrat Jagdeo, Reuters reported. Soldiers will patrol Guyana's streets for the first time during an election on Monday when voters cast ballots in the former British colony. Rioting has marred the last three general elections in the small South American country after racial tensions flared between the Indo-Guyanese majority, who mostly back the ruling party, and Guyanese of African descent. Polls published by local media show Jagdeo, a 42-year-old Moscow-educated economist, is favored to be re-elected. Polls also show his People's Progressive Party/Civic or PPP/C will keep its majority in the 65-member national parliament. Jagdeo has scored points with the electorate by improving infrastructure and roadways and by lowering the country's debt burden. His major opponent is veteran politician Robert Corbin, 58, whose People's National Congress Reform, or PNCR, draws support mainly from Guyanese who trace their roots back to Africa. The polls show the new Alliance For Change or AFC led by two lawyers who were in the leadership of the PPP/C and the PNCR could put up a good show and become the balance of power in parliament between the two traditional parties. British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler, a top British diplomat, said recently the country appeared calm without the racial and political tension that has marked politics in Guyana, a sparsely populated country between Venezuela and Suriname. "I am delighted to hear the dialogue in these elections which focuses more on issues that matter to ordinary people such as crime, jobs and services and not the disturbing, or what I would call 'old nonsense' about race," Wheeler said. Elections in 1992, 1997 and 2001, which the governing party won, ended in rioting in the capital. Several people were killed and stores and other buildings burnt and looted. CONCERN OVER CRIME Teams from the Commonwealth nations, the Carter Center and the European Union will monitor Monday's ballot, which comes as Guyanese fret over a recent climb in violent crime. Five workers were killed execution-style at a newspaper printing plant and, in another attack, a government minister was shot and killed at home. Gangs also robbed two banks in a daring hold-up in eastern Guyana but the army and police killed the eight bank robbers. High crime rates and plans for investment in the economy and the infrastructure featured heavily in electoral advertising, but the campaign was generally calm with none of the tit-for-tat attacks of previous votes. Guyana, which gained its independence from London in 1966, was populated by descendants of African slaves and indentured workers brought from India to work on plantations. South America's only English-speaking country, Guyana is rich in bauxite, gold and timber, but the country has struggled to battle poverty. Large numbers of young Guyanese have emigrated to the United States, Canada or Europe to seek jobs.
