Acts of intimidation, threats and accusations are
“unacceptable” and “not conducive to free and fair elections”, political
parties tell the commission.
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| Alexia Amesbury told the members of the Electoral Commission that she is being intimidated by political opponents. |
The Electoral Commission has appealed to all political
parties to call upon their supporters and agents “to exercise discipline and
respect for their opponents”. This call was made on Tuesday afternoon during a meeting
with representatives of all political parties as well as members of the
Seychelles Media Commission.
Restraint, the Electoral Commission added, is important “to
ensure that the campaign and the election process is undertaken in a peaceful
manner”.
This followed representations made to the EC during the
meeting with respect to “acts of intimidation, threats and accusations, be it
directly in print media as well as social media, all aimed at attacking and
denigrating one another”.
This newspaper has also learnt that presidential candidate
Alexia Amesbury told the members of the Electoral Commission on Tuesday that
eight of her dogs were recently killed at her home on Praslin.
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| Presidential candidate; Alexia Amesbury |
Mrs Amesbury alleges that her husband has been followed, that
her elderly aunt has received anonymous and threatening telephone calls and
that her internet and mobile phones “are being interfered with”.
Asking “What kind of regime acts in this cowardly fashion?”,
Mrs Amesbury says she is not a “soft target” and has asked the Electoral
Commission to write to the Commissioner of Police “requesting that these
matters are fully investigated and appropriate steps taken against those
responsible for these cowardly acts calculated to spread terror in the country in
the run up to the election”.
Although in its press release, the Electoral Commission does
not mention these specific incidents, it said that there was a “unanimous
agreement by all representatives of political parties that this situation is
unacceptable and not conducive to peaceful, free and fair elections”. The
commission added that it was also agreed that “if this situation is not
addressed, it could easily escalate and affect the peaceful conduct of the elections”.
It is unclear however
how the relevant institutions propose to “address” the matter. Pending the
decision for a concerted effort, the Electoral Commission presented a draft
code of conduct for political parties and stakeholders at Tuesday’s meeting. A final
draft should be presented for adoption by the end of the week, the commission said.
The code of conduct will also be shared with administrators of
social media groups “to seek their collaboration in this process”. It is
unknown at this point who will police this code of conduct and whether the
grievances of the representatives of political parties will be effectively
addressed.
In fact while she
says that the eventuality of the authorities failing to address her grievances,
“will be interpreted as the Electoral Commission condoning the acts of terror
and international organisations will be asked to intervene”, Mrs Amesbury told
TODAY she has not lodged a complaint with the police because she is doubtful “they
will do anything”.
Source:Today in Seychelles
