GUYANESE and stakeholders in the electoral process were yesterday assured by the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally, that the Commission is “fully prepared and ready” to conduct free, fair and credible elections.“I give you the assurance that the preparations for the General and Regional elections of 2015 have been thorough and all encompassing. The Guyana Elections Commission would like to assure all stakeholders that it is fully prepared and ready to conduct free and fair and credible elections,” he said in a message to the nation, televised by the National Communications Network (NCN).
The GECOM Chairman noted that a few challenges aside, the Commission has been able to achieve an “almost perfect state of readiness” for the efficient and transparent conduct of the May 11 polls.
“All the necessary technical, administrative and logistical systems are in place in every district; the entire production was planned and executed together with the political parties and their scrutinisers, who collaborated with us every step of the way,” he said, adding:
“Electors, you can rest assured that every aspect; every component relating to elections management has effectively and efficiently been carried by the competent and absolutely committed staff under the leadership of Mr Keith Lowenfield, GECOM Chief Elections Officer (CEO) and under the guidance of GECOM’s commissioners; together, surely the most knowledgeable and experienced persons who have not only successfully managed several elections in Guyana, but who have shared their experience internationally. I call them the Elections A-plus Team.”

TRUST GECOM
Dr Surujbally also noted that all the plans and preparations that went into readying the systems for the 2015 polls were done in collaboration with a host of stakeholders, including political parties, the Private Sector Commission, Chambers of Commerce and religious bodies – and supported by international technical assessors.
“GECOM did not accomplish this alone; at every step of the way, as we attempted to hone our performance that could be equal to the standards associated with international best practice, all stakeholders were involved,” he said.
Consequently, he appealed to all Guyanese and stakeholders to “trust” GECOM.
“There are still some elements in our society who, for some reason, may want to cast some doubt or over-exaggerate some minor flaw found in some obscure aspect of the elections and the electoral process. They sidestep the essential and pounce on the irrelevant,” he said, adding: .
“All of this boils down to trust. Already. there is too much distrust on those who want to lead for the next five years. For me, the matter of trust is an either or position; the metaphoric black or white; either you trust GECOM or you distrust us. When you are coming to your conclusion on this question, that conclusion must not be arrived at emotionally or because someone, even someone who you respect, has tried to influence you, and you should not use the methodology of guesswork.”
He underscored the fact that trust in GECOM’s capability must be premised on ‘the real’.
“Your trust in the management capability of GECOM must stem from your empirical and your educated observation from your own experience with GECOM’s actions and achievements in the past from facts; facts which speak for themselves, and which can withstand any inquiry; from a performance which can withstand local and international scrutiny, which is the model for elections management bodies elsewhere,” he said.
According to him, all concerns raised after the Disciplined Services vote on May 2 have been addressed. “There are no hiccups that I can see right now; I know of none,” Dr Surujbally said.
POLLING STATIONS
Today, Guyanese voters will utilise 2,299 polling stations, the largest number of stations ever identified in Guyana, 166 of which are private residences.
“The political parties have received a list of the polling stations for the 2015 General and Regional elections,” the GECOM Chairman said, adding that no more than 400 electors are assigned per polling station.
TRAINING
On the question of preparation, Dr Surujbally detailed GECOM’s preparations, of which training was a major component.
He said, “GECOM has been continuously engaging its elections day staff in a plethora of training exercises that have seen them being trained, re-trained and refresher trained, as well as further trained, in an effort to have all polling day fully prepared and ready for professional and transparent conduct of the May 11 General and Regional elections. The intensity and frequently of GECOM’s training exercises are designed to mitigate all possible errors on Election Day. “
The GECOM Chairman stressed that Election Day staffers will be deployed with the “the full understanding” that electors are GECOM’s employers. “We were given the job to manage these elections and we will not fail you,” he said.
VOTER EDUCATION
Civic and voter was another key area of work and Dr Surujbally assured that every communication medium was being utilized to get its civic and voter education messages across to the respective targeted audiences.
“GECOM had conceptualized and has now introduced a rigorous civic and voter education campaign, the primary aim of which is to inform the electorate on everything that they need to know on the electoral process. This has been going on for some time now,” he said.
An advanced feature, according to him, was the use of sign language. “Such is the design of the civic and voter education programme that it also involves the use of sign language…with the help of the National Commission on Disabilities (NCD), GEOCM has been able to produce a stencil to allow visually impaired persons, an option – an option – to vote independent of assistance, thereby ensuring that their vote is secret and known to them alone. The secrecy of the ballot must remain sacrosanct,” Dr Surujbally said.
He added that GECOM produced and distributed 100,000 booklets voting public.
“We encourage you to peruse the information, as the answers to your questions lie therein,” he said, “GECOM’s website and hotlines have also been a major feature of its civic and voter education…this year we introduced speedy online access to identification of your polling stations. We have been heartened by the commendations on this initiative.”

WITHIN THE LAW
Dr Surujbally also made it clear that GECOM will conduct its activities within the framework of legal and constitutional provisions.
“We at GECOM would like to reassure all Guyanese and the international community of our commitment to do everything within the law, to conduct free, fair, credible, peaceful and a most perfect election,” he said.
As such, the GECOM Chairman urged that Guyanese be accepting of the official results and not engage in any activities not in the interest of Guyana.
“GECOM calls on all Guyanese, political parties and their followers and all other stakeholders to accept the results of these elections in good faith and not engage in activities that are inimical to the peri and post-electoral peace and tranquility,” he said.

MEDIA CENTRE
The dissemination of the preliminary results, Dr Surujbally explained, will be delivered to the Guyanese public via GECOM’s recently established media centre.
“GECOM, with the help of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has set up a media centre to facilitate the efficient dissemination of official election results to the media and to the public, even as the results come in from the field. We are very proud of this,” he said.
Prior to the declaration of the final results, the Centre will be disseminating preliminary data, and as they come in from the different polling stations and districts, with the aim of keeping the viewership informed as to what is happening in the ten districts across the spectrum. The data is expected to be updated every two hours, as information reached the Commission.
Dr Surujbally said, “We will not sacrifice accuracy of the election result on the altar of expediency.”
All considered, he reiterated that the Commission intends for today’s proceedings to be free, fair, transparent and credible.
“Vote for the political party of your choice, return to your home and wait patiently for the professional tallying, verification and dissemination of results,” the GECOM Chairman concluded.