-requests meeting with elections commission

THE Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has made an official request to be an observer for the upcoming March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.
GCCI had sent an official request to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), said President of the GCCI, Nicholas Boyer during a press briefing, on Wednesday.
“The GCCI has requested a meeting with the commission and has requested to be an observer for the elections,” said Boyer, adding that the elections commission has since confirmed that it received the request, but the chamber has not been able to meet with GECOM as yet.

Although the chamber is yet to meet with the commission, Boyer encouraged GECOM to solicit technical assistance in order to improve its Information Technology (IT) department.
“International partners have reached out to offer assistance, but GECOM has to now reach out and access that assistance in the IT field,” said the GCCI President.
Chairperson of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh had recently announced that, in preparation for elections, the commission is working along with the international community for assistance, while local observers will be accredited soon.
“We’re expecting many overseas observers to come in and they will be accredited by the Executive, that’s not GECOM’s function. GECOM’s function is only to accredit the local observers and we’re just waiting after the President would have accredited the overseas [observers]…” she said.

One of these international observers is set to be the Carter Center through former United States (US) President, Jimmy Carter, who led the first mission to Guyana with the aim of encouraging sustainable development and development of democratic institutions.
Meanwhile, the commission will also receive two Senior Electoral Advisers from the Commonwealth Secretariat this month, while another individual from Canada is also on board. One of these was a Former Chair of the Guyana electoral body, while another was the former Chief Elections Officer in India and another from Ghana.
“There was much ado where persons were saying that GECOM doesn’t want observers. That is not true. GECOM welcomes all elections observers,” said Singh. “These persons will be on board as from sometime this month…they will be here acting as advisers and overseeing what we’re doing in GECOM. They’ll be here before, during and after the elections.”

She assured the public that the commission is not “shutting the door on anybody” and is appreciative of all the help it can receive to ensure credible elections are held. Also addressing the topic, Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, stated that the accreditation for local observers is a process.