On June 4, Prime Minister Basedo Panday announced the...

On June 4, Prime Minister Basedo Panday announced the date for a local government election, the first time in many years that a local poll has been called during the legal term of an existing local government campaign. Opposition MP Kenneth Valley, who was part of a controversial decision to hang convicted killer Glen Ashby in 1994, has already said he hopes the most recent executions do not become a platform issue during the local government campaign. The popular view was that the Panday administration had acquired a key election trump card by way of the imposition of the death penalty. Pro hanging political analyst Hamid Ghany said he believed there are political consequences related to the death penalty issue. Abolitionist Denis Solomon said: "The media, like the Government and the opposition, are playing their own selfish death games at the expense of individuals."