CITING ill health, former United States of America (USA)’s President Jimmy Carter departed Guyana yesterday for Atlanta. Reports are that he was accompanied by several other persons, including his personal aides.However, according to a statement from the Carter Center, its electoral observer mission will continue its work and will keep Carter informed of developments.
“President Carter is hopeful about Guyana’s election and expressed his commitment and that of The Carter Center to supporting Guyana in the days ahead, stressing the need for a peaceful process before, during, and after the election,” the statement said.
Since April, the Carter Center deployed a team of five experts and six medium-term observers throughout the nation. They have since conducted observations in all 10 of Guyana’s electoral districts, and held meetings with a wide range of actors, including political parties, the election commission, civil society organisations, and the judiciary.
The medium-term observer team was to have been joined by more than 50 short-term observers from 24 countries, and co-led by Mr Carter; Ambassador Audrey Glover of the United Kingdom; and former Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Billie Miller.
The Carter Centre’s electoral observer mission will witness the electoral process, including voting, counting, polling, and tabulation. The Carter Center’s assessment of the electoral process will be based on Guyana’s Constitution, its national legal framework, and its various obligations for democratic elections under public international law, including relevant regional and international agreements.
Today’s election will be the 100th to have been observed to date by the Carter Center. Twenty-six years ago, in May of 1989, The Carter Center sent its first ever team of election observers to Panama, where their work exposed General Manuel Noriega’s scheme to falsify tally sheets to swing the elections in favour of his handpicked candidate. That set in motion a series of events that led to Noriega’s downfall, and the instalement of the rightful president.
It also established the Carter Center as a leader in what was then the still relatively new field of election observation.
In the intervening years, the Center’s observation teams have witnessed elections in 38 countries. Their arrival, always at critical times in a country’s history, helps ensure that human rights and democratic values are respected, and inspires confidence in the voting process.
The Carter Center has developed a reputation as a trusted, impartial witness who speaks the truth.
Carter was first in Guyana for the 1992 General and Regional elections.