-cites unfair media access by incumbent partyThe Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) has recommended that the legislationWatchdog body, EAB, has called for more oversight in the use of state resources by the incumbent party during elections.on political campaigning should address the misuse of state resources by the incumbent…a persistent problem which is being raised by opposition parties.According to the watchdog EAB, the legislation should elaborate a full set of specific ways in which state resources cannot be used during elections campaign periods. Further, a series of penalties for violation of any of these prescriptions should be introduced.The EAB said that it should be? required that the incumbent party tables to Parliament and publishes, six months in advance of the elections (the fixed fate and/or constitutionally due date), all projects which would be carried out by the state, the sums that would be expended and the activities that would be conducted.Further, the incumbent party should also publish all visits that would be made to hinterland communities, their specific purpose, the main activities that would be undertaken during visits and budgets per visit.The EAB, in the report released yesterday, said that the information should be formally submitted to the proposed Elections Protection Bureau and published in the Official Gazette so that the public could distinguish between what is the incumbent’s obligation as a Government as opposed to activities that would be undertaken by the political party during the campaign period.It further stated that the proposed Elections Protection Bureau should be required to publish this information via radio, television,Cheap Jerseys From China, newspaper, and official circular to each hinterland community within two weeks of its publication in the Official Gazette;Another suggestion was that the proposed Elections Protection Bureau monitors state activities and hinterland visits according to the published work plan and budget and levy penalties for violations.Further in the EAB’s report on elections,Cheap Jerseys From China, it was noted that in Guyana there are three challenges where media access is concerned.The first one being the inequitable access of all parties to the state media, the demonstrated political preference of both public and privately owned media houses for specific political parties and geography and language barriers which restrict hinterland access to the media.It was proposed by the EAB that the existing Media Code of Conduct be replaced with laws on Media Rules of Conduct during electoral periods. These rules need to treat with equitable access of political parties to the media and also equitable access of the populace to the media, the report urged.More so, the EAB said that the legislation needs to be elaborated with specific rules that create fair and equitable media access of all political parties to both privately and publicly owned media.It was noted that the matter of equitable access of the populace to the media has to do not only with the balance and accuracy of stories produced by the media but also the different types of media that are available to communities across the country.The media form with the greatest geographical reach has been radio, which, unlike print and television,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, reaches several indigenous communities in remote areas.To date the, EAB says that the radio has been largely under the control of the State and the State owned media has demonstrated a bias towards coverage of the incumbent party. As far as radio coverage and access to indigenous peoples is concerned,cheap jerseys, it is reasonable to say that the incumbent has enjoyed disproportionately greater exposure in hinterland areas via radio.This, according to the EAB,Cheap Jerseys Supply, is an issue of concern because indigenous peoples are located in remote communities where their isolation also produces a disproportionate exposure to the incumbent party via visits for state related work.Adding to the disadvantage is the cost of transportation to remote communities which is very high and this limits the visits that other political parties, particularly small parties,Cheap Sports Jerseys, can make to villages.Consequently, the political force that these communities are most in contact with is the incumbent party and they do not enjoy the greater freedom of access to information afforded to the rest of the country. Legislation on media access needs to pay specific attention to the radio not only because of its reach.In other countries with ethnic conflict, the misuse of radio has been directly linked to t