THE European Union (EU) Ambassador to Guyana, René Van Nes, on Thursday, disclosed that a request has been made by the Government of Guyana for the EU Election Observer Mission to return for the country’s Regional and General Elections slated for 2025.

The EU Ambassador told local journalist that the request was oral but an official written request is expected soon.
“The government has now indicated its very keen interest to have another EU Election Observation Mission for the general elections of 2025,” the EU Ambassador said.
Elections are expected to be held November of that year.

“EU will look favourably at that expression of interest as soon as we have the paperwork to look at that,” he added.
The last EU Election Observer Mission (EOM) had emphasised the importance of avoiding a recurrence of the destabilising five-month impasse, which followed the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections by implementing sweeping electoral reforms.

Guyanese, after casting their votes on March 2, 2020, had to endure an unimaginable wait for the results of the General and Regional Elections, as they witnessed alleged unlawful acts and a slew of legal challenges.

In this time, the patience of the electorate was tested, as electors observed what was described as attempts by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition to rip the democratic fabric of the nation, with “delay tactics” which were openly criticised by a wide section of society.

It was only after the legal challenges and international intervention that a national recount of all votes cast was convened and the figures showed that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) received 233,336 votes, while the APNU+AFC Coalition got 217,920 votes.

Though leaving Guyana on March 20, 2020, because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, prior to the climax and conclusion of the political impasse, the EU’s EOM, led by Chief Observer, Urmas Paet, followed the series of events remotely and was able to determine that such occurrences could only be prevented by legislative and technical electoral reforms.

“It is obvious that what happened last year [2020] should not happen again… I guess some changes at least in legislation concerning elections and then some of the technical practices should increase the possibility that it will not happen again,” Paet had said.

Some of the possible reforms and amendments, which Guyana could adopt were listed among the 26 recommendations outlined by the EU’s EOM in its final report on Guyana’s elections, which was issued on June 5, 2020.

The mission had returned in 2023, and at that time several aspects of EU priority recommendations were implemented.
These included the amendments to Representation of the People Act (ROPA), the National Registration Act, and the tabling of the Data Protection Bill.

Of the 26 recommendations listed in the 2020 final report, eight were classified as priority areas. Of these eight, significant progress has been made in four of the areas, with two being fully implemented through provisions in amendments made last year to ROPA and the NRA.

The fully implemented recommendation dealt with clear tabulation. This was a priority recommendation which called for increased transparency in the result process, namely to publish the Statement of Polls as soon as possible on the Guyana Elections Commission (GEOCM) website.

This was addressed with a new law which requires Returning Officers to immediately on receipt of the SOPs make them publicly available on the GECOM website.

Other recommendations which have been partially addressed include increasing the continuous voter registration aspect.
This was addressed by the National Registration Amendment Act which extends the period during which people can register for the first time or make changes. According to the new provision, GECOM offices are open to the public ten months per year.

Referencing the recommendations that have since been addressed, Ambassador Van Nes acknowledged the progress made thus far and a notable willingness to work on implementing the recommendations.
“The government is taking a number of recommendations forward forcefully,” he added.