…as PSC meets Chairman Dr. Surujbally
A NINE-member team of representatives from the Private Sector Commission (PSC), headed by Chairman Ramesh Dookhoo, met with Dr. Steve Surujbally, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the senior management team of the GECOM Secretariat on Monday last. The meeting was held at the behest of the PSC to clarify the concerns of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).  Foremost among the issues discussed at the meeting were:
*Delays in the tabulation and release of election results
*Calls for verification of statements of poll, particularly in District 4
*Calls by APNU  and the Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) for copies of the statements
*Discarded ballot box seals publicly displayed by APNU, and
*Non-issuance of certificates of employment to party agents.

It was reiterated that what might have seemed to be tardiness in the tabulation and declaration of the results of the elections was in fact representative of the caution and care that was being taken towards guaranteeing accuracy.
The chairman had repeatedly emphasised that accuracy and correctness were of paramount importance, notwithstanding any anomaly which could later emerge.
In passing, Dr. Surujbally reminded that legally, GECOM had up to 15 days to declare the results of the elections.  The results of the 2011 general and regional elections were declared on the afternoon of Thursday, December 1, 2011, whereas the results of the 2006 elections were declared on the night of Thursday, August 31, 2006, in both cases three days after the elections, with the 2011 elections having been done several hours earlier, .  The declaration of the 2011 general and regional elections was, therefore, the earliest in the last five elections.

The PSC was given the assurance that the tabulation of the results of the elections was done on the basis of the statements of poll from the respective polling stations, which were certified by the presiding officers and party agents who participated in the counting of the ballots.
The statements were further checked by the respective deputy returning officers and returning officers in that order for accuracy, before being forwarded to the chief election officer where it was checked again for correctness.
The chairman emphasised that for the statement of polls for any polling stations to have been compromised would have required complete collusion among the GECOM polling day staff and the various party agents and observers present at the counting of the poll.   It was further emphasised that the entire process from the point of counting at the polling stations up to the point of compilation at the command centre of the GECOM Secretariat was constantly overseen by party agents, and local and international observers.

The PSC was informed that there is no legal requirement for GECOM to give any external agency, including political parties and observers, copies of statements of poll. Nonetheless, the chairman undertook to provide scanned copies of all of the statements on DVD to the political parties which contested the elections, and to the Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) and the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU).

The PSC team was given the assurance that the discarded red ballot box seals publicly displayed by APNU were actually those seals that were cut and removed from the ballot boxes immediately prior to the commencement of the voting on election day.  These seals were placed on the ballot boxes, in the presence of party agents and local and foreign observers before they were transported (under Police escort) from GECOM to the polling stations.  The seals publicly displayed by APNU are in no way, shape or form linked to the integrity of the ballots cast by the electorate.  The international independent technical assessor, who was present at the meeting, pointed out that the seals in question reflected the function of security of the ballot boxes prior to the opening of the ballot boxes for the commencement of voting. The seals were removed from the ballot boxes at the opening of the  boxes and were discarded.  It was emphasised that, at the end of the poll, in addition to the five  seals placed on the ballot boxes, each party agent present further placed security tapes on the boxes.

The PSC team was informed that there is no legal provision for certificates of employment to be issued to party agents for them to vote at the respective polling stations where they were assigned by their parties to work on election day.  However, candidates of the political parties could have substituted for each party agent during election day in order that they could go to the respective polling stations where they were listed to cast their ballots.  In fact, it does however appear that some party agents found it not possible to vote.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the PSC team thanked the Chairman of GECOM and his senior management team for the meeting and expressed their appreciation to the chairman for his consenting to provide scanned copies of all of the SoPs to the political parties which contested the elections, the EAB and the GPSU.