Observer Missions Give Kudos To Guyana For Election Process

Amid a few minor hiccups, the country and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) by extension has come in for highpraise from both the international and domestic observer missions that are monitoring the electoral process.

UNASUR Observer Mission in Guyana

Currently there are five international observer missions and 14 local groups conducting observation works in the country. This includes the pre and post election periods, the voting process and tabulation of the ballots.
Guyana Times caught up with some of the observer missions to get their reactions to polling day activities. Chief of Mission for the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Guyana, Ambassador Lisa Shoman has expressed her satisfaction with the conducting of polls, while noting that 98 per cent of the polling stations opened on time.
“Early this morning there was quite, a good turnout and I think we were able to observe the opening of the polls. The polling stations had the materials that they needed,” she noted. Shoman added that the OAS observers in the 10 administrative regions had submitted a preliminary report on the opening of polls in all 10 regions.
However, the OAS Chief of Mission registered her disappointment with the long procedure that is in place for voters without identification cards. “There are a couple of places where it took long and we have noted that it is people coming without ID cards, it takes between five to eight minutes to have them vote so it’s a little slow.”
These sentiments were adopted by the team from the Union of the South American Nations (UNASUR), who also congratulated the country and GECOM for what they say was an efficient and transparent voting process.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Special Representative of the South American organisation, Dr Domingo Paredes, praised the electoral systems that are in place. He pointed out that the voting stages adopted by Guyana are not seen in any other South American countries, referring to the ID display in polling stations, the presence of security personnel at all polling stations and political representatives in the stations among others.
Paredes commended the Election Commission for a job well done, noting that their voter’s education programme was on par. He specifically mentioned the visual displays around the polling stations displaying the stages of the voting process.
Nevertheless, the UNASUR representatives highlighted a few issues that came to their attention such as the lack of accessibility for the handicapped and the elderly to the polling station. Furthermore, he noted that there are limited polling stations, hence the long queues.
UNASUR had observers at 33 polling stations in four regions. There were observers at four polling stations in Parika, at eight stations in Georgetown and New Amsterdam, and five in Linden.
In addition, the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Persaud dubbed the election process “credible”. He told Guyana Times that he had the opportunity to visit polling stations in outlining areas such as Diamond, Skeldon and Linden.
Persaud sang the praises of the GECOM staff, noting that they were “properly trained” and the systems in place were in accordance to the country’s practices. He added that the voting process was moving apace, since by 10:00h, most of the polling stations were cleared.
Furthermore, the PSC Chairman is urging Guyanese to be patience and accept the official results published by GECOM. “The process was credible, the staff were diligent and I even spoke to the political agents and while there were some minor discrepancies, it was nothing had could alter the results.”
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Observer Mission, which has a seven-member team in Guyana, has stated that observers were deployed to polling stations in and around Georgetown, Charity Linden and New Amsterdam.
At these locations, the Commonwealth observers “met with local election officials and Police commanders and collaborated with other observer groups”. The international organisation team observed the voting process, counting of the votes and transmittal of the results from the various polling stations back to the Elections Commission head office in Kingston. The group is expected to deliver a preliminary report on Wednesday.
Observers from the United States Embassy were seen in the Corentyne monitoring various polling stations. They indicated that up to midday on Monday, when approached by this newspaper, there were no complications.