“WE are encouragingly satisfied with the preparations being made by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the free, fair, efficient and transparent conduct of Elections on May 11, 2015,” was the collective sentiment expressed by the resident diplomats from United States of America, Great Britain, and Canada, when they met with GECOM’s Chairman and Chief Election Officer (CEO) last Friday.The meeting provided GECOM with the opportunity to thoroughly update the diplomats about the heightened state of preparedness throughout the GECOM Secretariat, as the May 11 General and Regional Elections draw near.
GECOM clearly indicated that the preparatory electoral processes have met all statutory requirements and timelines, and in some instances have been ahead of schedule – as is the case with the early posting of the Revised List of Electors.
ELECTION DAY STAFF
In response to queries regarding adequate numbers of trained Election Day staff to be utilised by GECOM, Mr. Keith Lowenfield GECOM’s CEO, emphasised that in an effort to avoid last- minute recruitment, training and selection of Election Day workers, GECOM had initiated a rigorous training, re-training, further training and refresher training exercises since September 2014 and now has a reserve pool of trained Election Day staff in excess of the required numbers, in every Electoral District. He also pointed out that polling day staff will be contracted from the beginning of April 2015, and will again undergo a number of refresher training courses, on a continuous basis (3 three days per week,three hours each day), in the run- up to Election Day. During these refresher training exercises, there will be the inclusion of mock polls.
VETTING OF ELECTION DAY STAFF
GECOM’s Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally mentioned that the selection of polling day staff including Returning Officers and Deputy Returning Officers was conducted in a fair and transparent manner, and following the criteria associated with due process and international best practices. The Secretariat, he said, submitted lists of potential Returning Officers and Deputy Returning Officers to the Commission for its consideration and comments. Senior appointments were subsequently made with agreement of the GECOM Commissioners.
Dr. Surujbally further indicated that the eventual contracting of polling day staff will be a merit-based exercise that will take into consideration the applicants’ profiles, maturity, experience, relevant skills and scores on evaluations conducted during their two-day training.
OTHER ISSUES DISCUSSED
The ABC diplomats were also briefed on the new methodology to be adopted by GECOM as it relates to the investigation for applications for Proxy Voting. Previously, Returning Officers investigated the applications for proxy voting independently. However, as an improved measure of transparency, political party agents will now be actively involved in the process, not lastly accompanying Returning Officers during their home visits, to investigate applications for Proxy Voting.
GECOM indicated to the diplomats that it is currently exploring the use of social media, as part of its integrated communication strategy to inform stakeholders about the location of polling stations and other pertinent issues.
The GECOM Chairman revealed that the Commission has enrolled the assistance of political parties in the distribution of National ID Cards. He indicated that political parties were given a list of names of persons who are yet to uplift their National ID cards. He also indicated that political parties can encourage their supporters to collect their ID cards. The uncollected ID cards would be centralised at the GECOM Secretariat three days before the elections.
In response to a question about the timely release of election results, the GECOM Chairman categorically stated that the Commission would not compromise accuracy for expediency/speediness in delivery of election results, but would be aiming towards a timely and accurate announcement of the election results. GECOM further indicated that it will be divulging partial results as the tabulation process is under way.
The diplomats who met with GECOM were the Chargé d’Affaires of the American Embassy, Mr. Bryan Hunt; British High Commissioner, Mr. Greg Quinn; and the Canadian High Commissioner, Dr. Nicole Giles.