…parties have not broken the Code of Conduct in any meaningful way
CHAIRMAN of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, has expressed the view that the political parties contesting this year’s General and Regional Elections have so far upheld the Code of Conduct governing the group. Dr. Surujbally made the statement last evening at the Hotel Tower, while addressing members of the various missions observing the Guyana election process.
GECOM hosted a training session for these persons to ensure that they are fully oriented with the protocols here.
“Political parties have not broken the code in any meaningful way that could lead to violence in the coming days,” Dr Surujbally stated. His comment comes after the major contending parties the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) have been pointing fingers at each other claiming that they were in breach of the code.
The GECOM Chair was updating the Observer Groups on the status of preparations.
“We are ready. GECOM is ready to carry out that mandate given to us by the state,” Dr Surujbally assured. According to him, the commission started preparations for the 2011 elections immediately after the last elections in 2006. This work included civic and voter education, he explained.
Dr Surujbally believes that GECOM has come a far way over the years, and learnt from its experiences. He is pleased that the commission and its staff have put in a great deal to make the staging of these elections successful.
The ballot boxes have been stocked for mobilisation to polling stations across the country. Asked whether GECOM was pleased with the level of security overlooking ballot boxes and their transport, the Commission Head responded “I can say a great affirmative yes.”
The Disciplined Services, which include the Guyana Defence and Police Forces and the Guyana Prison and Fire Service voted on Monday last. These ballots have been packaged and were up to yesterday ready to be dispatched to the returning officers in the different geographical districts to be “intermixed and counted” with other ballots after elections.
Dr. Surujbally was also asked about the unstamped ballots by a member of an observer mission, which he dismissed as a non-issue. These will be stamped in the presence of party polling agents when being intermixed.
He explained that was an option requested by the heads of the Disciplined Services in a meeting with GECOM.
“Until recently, the ballots of the disciplined forces were revealed a week before national elections; so everybody knew if 95% of them voted for a certain political party, then you can say ‘ah ha!’ the military, the police vote for a certain party on block. The police and the military quite rightly, I think, were angered at that, so we will take the envelopes in which their votes are down to the polling area where they were registered, and on polling day, they would be mixed with the total votes.
One other observer was concerned about a change in polling stations at the last minute, and this information being made available to the electorate. Dr Surujbally explained the current list of polling stations is about 99.9 percent accurate, since only about 8 out of the more than 2,000 stations were changed.
He explained that in some instances, GECOM will have a mobile unit outside of the previously named locations; but in the meantime, the commission has been using posters, public address systems, and officials are making door to door visits in smaller communities.
Dr Surujbally also revealed that in the case of Diamond on the East Bank Demerara, GECOM moved about five different polling stations to the Diamond Secondary School.
Meanwhile, GECOM opened its offices up to 22:00hrs last night to facilitate last minute ID card collection.