Georgetown: The Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth have expressed interests in sending teams ahead of the May 11 General and Regional Elections in Guyana.
This disclosure was made by Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon at the post cabinet press briefing recently.
According to him, the purpose of the teams being dispatched to Guyana before the holding of elections was to get a feel of what the situation and atmosphere was like before a final decision is taken on whether they will be observing the actual process.
However, Government is still awaiting official word from international observer groups to participate in this year’s Regional and General Elections. While there has been no official response, he said the Ramotar Administration is hoping to have the observers here from as early as Nomination Day on April 7, since according to the Cabinet Secretary, it is presumed that campaigns by political parties will be heightened.
Included in the list of invitees to participate in the elections are the Governments of India and South Africa, other bodies that are usually involved in elections here, including the United Nation (UN), the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the Organisation of American States (OAS), Commonwealth, The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Carter Centre and the United Kingdom branch of the Parliamentary Association. Dr Luncheon said so far, the results have been promising.
Luncheon had said that Government is seeking to have the bodies present in Guyana after the elections as well.
Election experts and long-term observers usually begin their work weeks before the actual Election Day, observing candidate registration, the legal framework, the media situation, the work of the election administration, and the campaign environment.
On Election Day, short-term observers monitor the opening of polling stations, the vote cast, and the counting and tabulation of results.
After the elections, observers remain in the country for another few weeks to monitor how effective election-related shortcomings and complaints are dealt with by the election administration and the judiciary.
Subsequent to his announcement of elections, President Ramotar authorised the dispatch of letters of notification to the international community, particularly those involved in election observation, notifying them of elections here. Later, after the proclamation of the dissolution of Parliament, the Head of State dispatched letters of invitation to the international community for them to participate in the election.
Asked if he was confident of the groups’ participation, Luncheon said there are indications that this may be so, and pointed to the recent needs assessment conducted by the UN, which he said is a proxy for their presence. “The recently concluded needs assessment by the UN team, the report is being awaited by Guyana’s Government. As customary Caricom, the OAS and the commonwealth are expected to feed observer missions for the May 11 Election,” stated the cabinet secretary.
Meanwhile, responding to the likelihood of the Carter Centre participating, Luncheon said all knots were loosened and there are indications that the human rights organisation will be participating. According to information, sometime back, former US President Jimmy Carter had said he wanted nothing to do with Guyana.
But according to Luncheon, “I hesitate to use that for any other purpose than to say their interest in participation in the observer has been the subject of an invitation that has been responded to. That gives some insight about the nature of the relationship between the Carter Centre and the Guyana Government.” He informed that the Centre had even had needs assessment mission recently concluded last Friday.
“The role they have played since 1990 in the return to democracy in 1992 has for all intents and purposes an abiding concern from them. I have not had any indication of any dissatisfaction by the Carter Centre along those lines”, Luncheon said.
The ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has already commended the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on what it termed a “pro-democratic” move in welcoming international observers, noting that this was a step in the right direction towards free and fair elections. Guyana, will on May 11 head to the polls one year shy of its constitutionally due date.
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