KEY issues associated with the upcoming General and Regional Elections were elaborated upon when Dr. Steve Surujbally, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), met with Carlos del Castillo – Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Development Programme in Guyana.

The discussions took place at GECOM’s Headquarters during a courtesy call which Mr. Castillo paid on Dr. Surujbally on Monday at the GECOM Chairman’s Office.

Dr. Surujbally updated Mr. Castillo on the state of preparedness for the upcoming elections. He focused primarily on the recently concluded Claims and Objections exercise and its concomitant activities (e.g. fingerprint cross matching, production and distribution of ID cards for new registrants etc), which would lead to the production of an impeccable Official List of Electors for the 2011 elections, and the conduct of the polls in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Among the more salient issues discussed were (i) the post Claims and Objections activities associated with the General and Regional Elections – 2011, (ii) the possibility of international observers being invited to monitor the conduct of the upcoming polls, (iii) the provision of technical support, including the delegation of a Joint International Technical Assessor (JITA), (iv) the resuscitation of the GECOM Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) and, (v) the appointment of an IT Manager at GECOM.

Mr. Castillo assured Dr. Surujbally of the continued commitment to assist GECOM, in keeping with the policies of the UNDP, to support the democratic processes in Guyana.