…Chairman says Chief Elections Officer should be ready to certify list by early September
The Guyana Elections Commission will be reinstituting the Code of Conduct for political parties for the upcoming general elections, an integral ingredient if the elections are to be conducted in an atmosphere of peace.
So said Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, while addressing the opening of a workshop for political parties themed – ‘Preparations for Nomination Day’. It was held Wednesday at the Tower Hotel.
“I know in the past Codes of Conduct have been signed, sealed and delivered, and the next day they were broken. It seemed not to have happened in 2006. I beg of you not to let yourself breach that Code of Conduct that you would have signed and acquiesced to,” he said, addressing representatives of many political parties.
He said that the voter education and public relations staff of GECOM have been directed to react to statements in the media emanating from political parties which have not availed themselves of the opportunities by GECOM to learn about the electoral process.
According to Surujbally, if everything goes according to plan, the Chief Elections Officer will be ready by early September to certify the primary voters’ list, after which there is no turning back. “After that, that list has a shelf life of three months…do the math yourself,” he said.
“GECOM recognizes bona fide political parties as key stakeholders in the electoral process. We recognize that since the parties are involved in every step of electoral process, it is in the interest of both GECOM and the political parties to maintain and sustain close relations and to communicate interactively in a consultative approach throughout the electoral period,” he said.
The GECOM Chairman said that the organization of the workshop is in fact evidence of GECOM’s commitment to its engendering mutually favourable relationships between itself and political parties. “We recognize the need to provide guidance to political parties as key stakeholders about how they ought to apply themselves throughout the electoral process, insofar as contesting the elections is concerned,” he said.
He noted most of the political parties, especially the seasoned ones, usually make no mistake. But he said some of the newer parties need a guiding hand.
He said Chief Elections Officer Gocool Boodhoo has been given the directive to help parties that are still “slipping and sliding” from the straight and narrow.
“We are not going to allow ourselves to be an arm-twisting [entity], nor are we going to allow ourselves to be blamed later on for creating an uneven playing field,” he said.
“We do have an open door polity and we treat all bona fide political parties equally. We are very aware that any departure from this sense of equality will result in policies and programmes attracting criticism and  opposition, in fact, it would make our life at GECOM pretty difficult and we would not enjoy widespread support,” said Surujbally.
“The Commission is aware of the importance of political parties’ involvement in consultations relative to the setting of GECOM’s objectives, evaluations of our performance, and so on. As key stakeholders, political parties’ opinions of GECOM’s ideas, focus and objectives, our priorities and our services, are all ingredients in improving electoral management,” he said.
“During this election period, we are conscious that regular consultation with political parties is critical to the promotion of agreement on GECOM’s timelines and outputs. We are committed to ensuring that political parties are fully informed of all aspects of the electoral process,” he said.
He said that, the operations team headed by Boodhoo has been mandated to respond to political parties’ queries, requests and concerns. “If you do not get satisfaction, then there is always the office of the Chairman, who has a door open at all times,” he said.
“We do not want at any time to have to leave out a political party because they might have done something incorrectly where filling out of forms might be concerned; but at the same time, they must understand that they cannot keep back the process,” he said. He said political parties have a similar role to play in ensuring that there is fairness in the electoral process and promoting confidence in the system.