The Electoral Commissioner, Mr Hendrick Gappy, has warned that there should be no political campaigning whatsoever during the cooling off period which began as of midnight on Saturday November 30 and which will go on until midnight, on Tuesday December 3.

Campaigning is also not allowed during the election period from December 4 to 6.

During this period, Mr Gappy said, it is against the Electoral Law to distribute or display publicly political campaigning materials as well as publish or broadcast any electoral material.

The Electoral Commissioner, in collaboration with the police, is keeping a sharp look-out for people who are not abiding by the regulations and on Monday December 2, a man was arrested in town for distributing campaigning materials for a political party.

Mr Gappy is reminding all sections of the national media, both the broadcasting press and newspapers, that in line with the Electoral Law they should refrain from broadcasting or publishing any campaigning material for any political party during this period. 

He is also calling on all political parties as well as independent candidate contesting the election to cooperate in the removal of all political posters or banners within a radius of 200 metres from all polling stations. By Wednesday December 4 morning when the election begins on the inner islands, all posters and banners within the mentioned range should have been removed.

With regard to international observers, Mr Gappy said that by Tuesday December 3,  a delegation of 12 election observers would have arrived in the country from the l'Organisation International de la Francophonie and the European Parliament. Observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are also expected to arrive during the course of this week.

Meanwhile the 74,000 ballot papers which have been kept at the Central Bank building were on Monday December 2,  officially handed over to the Electoral Commissioner in the presence of members of the team who went to oversee printing in Singapore. 

For voters on the inner islands, the National Assembly election will take place on December 4 and 5 and for those on the main island, on December 6.

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