Competitive elections anticipated in Guyana- Caricom’s Observers

Ballot BoxGeorgetown: The Caribbean Community (Caricom) has deployed a team of professionals from the region to observe Monday’s General and Regional Elections in Guyana, and is predicting a competitive race based on what it has seen thus far.

The 10-member team is scheduled to be in Guyana from May 6 until May 13.

The team, which consists of persons with vast electoral experience and political representation, will be led by Deputy Director of the Elections Commission in Jamaica, Earl Simpson, and Josephine Tamai of Belize as Deputy Chief of Mission. Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, the Head of the Observer Mission noted that while they have only been in Guyana for a short period of time, they have been monitoring the political atmosphere in the country.

According to Simpson, since their arrival on Wednesday, himself and Tamai have been looking mostly at the local media and various talk shows to get a sense of the perception of what is happening on the ground. In addition, Tamai stated that they are already having the sense of what is happening in the country though it may not be to the extent, they would prefer.

“The sense is that it is going to be a pretty competitive election. We will closely monitor what is happening and what is being said, but then whatever is our conclusion would be included in the report that we would present to the Caricom General Secretary,” the Chief of Mission stated.

Simpson noted that after Monday’s polling day, the group will be issuing a preliminary statement on their findings. This will be followed by a final report which will outline the observations by the Mission and its assessment of the election process, including recommendations if necessary.

On this note, the Chief of Mission was asked whether his team is concerned about the usual lack of interests by the Government to implement the recommendations. In response, Simpson said that they are yet to go through previous recommendations and assess whether they were implemented.

Like the other international observer agencies, the Caricom Group will be widely monitoring the elections process. The team is mandated to observe the elections process including campaigning activities, casting of votes, counting of ballots and transfer of the results. They are also tasked with observing the conduct of electoral officials and political stakeholders, and the electoral environment.

Additionally, the Mission will have to observe the outcome of the elections and its immediate impact on the social and political environment. “It is our intension to abide by the laws of Guyana. We will visit as many polling locations and polling stations to take a broad representative sample of the process as possible…It is important to point out that we are committed to being neutral, impartial, objective and independent,” he stated.

In order to effectively cover Guyana’s National and Regional Elections, the team will be collaborating with other observer missions to maximise its coverage in areas that they will not be able to access, since they are unable to be present at all the polling stations.