Georgetown: A seven-member Commonwealth Observer group has the responsibility to observe issues relating to the credibility of the electoral process that includes evaluating the pre-election period, election day itself, as well as the post-election period.
During a press briefing recently at Cara Lodge, Kate Wilkinson, chairperson of the Commonwealth group which is here to observe the May 11 General and Regional elections, iterated that, “they are only here to observe and not to supervise the electoral process.”
The group members have since met with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), political parties, members of the press and international organisations.
While responding to questions, raised on whether or not the group has concerns about Guyana not implementing recommendations made by the commonwealth group on past elections, Wilkinson said that, “We act with impartiality, objectivity and independence. We do not have a supervisory role. We will assess whether or not the elections have been conducted according to the standards to which Guyana has committed itself, including through its constitutional and legislative framework, and relevant Commonwealth and international commitments.”
Over the next few days, the team will continue to meet with a range of relevant stakeholders, including domestic and other international observer groups, youth representatives and members of the business community. On May 9, the team will be deployed to regions across the country to observe the election environment and preparations for election day, and will be observing the opening and closing of the polls, the polling itself, counting of votes and transmission of results.
Wilkinson noted that the group will issue an interim statement of key findings shortly after the elections, and thereafter, before departure on May 17, will prepare a final report. The report will be submitted to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will in turn forward it to the Government of Guyana, GECOM, the leadership of political parties, and then to all the Commonwealth governments.
“We look forward to a high turnout on election day and to the conduct of peaceful elections. We encourage political parties to take a constructive approach to campaigning in these remaining days before the election. We also strongly urge the parties to respond to the officially declared results in a responsible manner. We wish the people of Guyana well as they embark on this important national process,” Wilkinson said.
The Commonwealth has long supported elections observation in Guyana, with its first such exercise being in 1992. The Commonwealth Charter, which was adopted by the Commonwealth Heads of Governments in 2012, has at its heart credible and peaceful elections that enable citizens to choose their leaders, she explained.
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