A CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM) Election Observation Mission has begun work after arriving in Guyana to monitor the May 11 general and regional elections. According to the agency, the body’s Chief of Mission Earl Simpson, and Deputy Chief of Mission Josephine Tamai, arrived in Guyana as an advance team, on Wednesday.They have called on President Donald Ramotar, and have met with the Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud and his senior officers to get an overview of the security situation in the country; and an assessment of the plans and strategies for the election process culminating in the conduct of the election and the announcement of results. The mission has also met with presidential candidates and their parties.
Other organisations and stakeholders with which the CARICOM team will meet include the Guyana Elections Commission, Guyana Public Service Union, Guyana Human Rights Commission, Private Sector Commission, Guyana Trades Union Congress and the Guyana Council of Churches. The Chief of Mission is also scheduled to be part of meetings of all Chiefs of Missions of all the observer groups currently in Guyana.
The team comprises 10 members who are led by Deputy Director of Elections, Electoral Commission of Jamaica, Chief of Mission, Earl Simpson.
The Secretary General of CARICOM’s mandate to the mission is the following:    To observe the electoral process including the campaign period, the opening of the poll on election day, the voting procedures during the course of the day, the close of poll at the end of the day, the counting of ballots, the preparation of the statement of the poll and the transmission of results to the Returning Officers and the Guyana Electoral Commission; to observe the conduct of the electoral officials and political stakeholders and the overall electoral environment, and to observe and assess the outcome of the elections and the initial immediate impact on the social and political environment.
According to the CARICOM mission’s head Earl Simpson, “A debriefing session with the team that observe the elections in the various districts will be held, after which we will collaborate in the preparation of a Final Report of the Observer Mission outlining our observations and assessment of the process, which will include recommendations where applicable.  This report will be presented to the Secretary General of CARICOM, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, who will later forward the report to the Government of Guyana, the Guyana Elections Commission and the leadership of all the political parties who participated in the elections.”
Simpson made it clear that it is the mission’s intention to abide by the laws of Guyana. “We will visit many polling locations and polling stations to take a broad a representative sample of the process as possible. In addition to the persons whom we have already met, we look forward to meeting with as many Guyanese as possible. We will cooperate closely with other international and local observer groups to ensure that we maximise our coverage.”
It was reiterated by Simpson that the CARICOM mission is committed to being neutral, impartial, objective and independent, “Let me say clearly that we are unable to visit every polling station or to be present everywhere.” He added that the team includes persons with vast electoral experience that spans election administration and political representation. “Our varying experiences will no doubt allow for us to provide meaningful insights into the electoral process. We are here to observe the process and form an impartial judgment on its credibility. We have no executive role.”
In response to a letter dated February 20, 2015, from Dr. Roger Luncheon, Head, Presidential Secretariat of Guyana to the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ambassador, Irwin LaRocque, inviting CARICOM to mount an Election Observation Mission, the Secretary General acted on the invitation and requested Caribbean Community Members to appoint Observers to be a part of a CARICOM Observer Team to observe the process from May 6, 2015 to  May 13, 2015. (GINA)