THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday swore in ten (10) Returning Officers (ROs) from each administrative region in Guyana, as it continues to advance its preparation to conduct general and regional elections on May 11 of this year.

The swearing in was done at GECOM’s Barrack Street office in Kingston, Georgetown, and
Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Mr Keith Lowenfield said the step comes at a time when GECOM is in the fields bringing closure to the claims and objections exercise.

He explained that the ten staff members “belong to GECOM” and are part of training exercises which were held for management staff in September 2014. In some instances, he said, some of these persons had been with GECOM prior to this election, and as such, they are knowledgeable of issues which were to be treated delicately.

Lowenfield disclosed that the Returning Officers would be the ones “carrying out the mandate of the commission”, which is the “efficient conduct of general and regional elections 2015.”
He said yesterday’s proceedings sought to bring the Returning Officers legally to bear the responsibility of ensuring free, fair and transparent elections in each of the ten administrative regions.

Lowenfield also hinted that while the claims subset of the Claims and Objections exercise concluded on Sunday last, the Objections subset will continue during the course of this week.

He also assured the media that GECOM’s officers were working assiduously in the fields in an attempt to “bring closure to the exercise”.

“There is a smoothing process between the list preparation and arriving definitively at polling stations and operationalizing to ensure that all electors and every populated division in Guyana (is) catered for. It is against that backdrop that they (the Returning Officers] will be sworn in,” the CEO said.

The Returning Officers who were sworn in yesterday are Murphy DeSouza (Region 1), Rabinauth Boodram (Region 2), Kushaldeo Bipath (Region 3), Melanie Marshall (Region 4), Clairmonte Mingo (Region 5), Alfa Mohamed (Region 6), Glendon Fredericks (Region 7), Dwayne Marco (Region 8), Carlos Melville (Region 9) and Lorna Marks (Region 10).

The ROs are tasked with multiple responsibilities, all aimed at contributing towards holding the election in a free, fair and transparent manner. Their responsibilities include inter alia:
* Being responsible to the Chief Election Officer for the proper conduct of the poll within his/her polling district
* Maintaining close liaison and coordination with the Chief Election Officer and the Elections Secretariat
* Reporting to the Chief Election Officer through the Deputy Chief Election Officer and the Assistant Chief Election Officer
* Supervising the work of the Deputy Returning Officers, Election Clerks and all other election officials within his/her polling district;

* Administer the Oath of Office to all staff members before they perform any function under the Representation of the People Act, Cap. 1:03;
* Assist the Training Instructors with the training of Polling Day Officials.