Georgetown: Following the task of conducting Monday’s General and Regional Elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has issued its confidence in the processes thus far.
“GECOM has delivered free, fair and credible elections,” stated GECOM’s Chairperson Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.
This was announced at a Press Conference held by the election body on Tuesday.
“We had a very well-run election despite all the naysayers and the many rough areas which we had to endure to get here,” the Chairperson continued.
Concerning the continuation of the process whereby the official declaration of the results is to be done, Justice Singh (ret’d) noted, “the results are coming in and the process of verification is being conducted.”
A total of 11 political parties contested Monday’s elections with approximately 600,000 electors on the Official List of Electors (OLE) qualified to cast their ballots. Polls throughout the country closed at 6pm.
Meanwhile, GECOM Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield stated that it is “the Commission’s desire to have the final declaration of results in the earliest possible time.”
Not giving a timeframe, Lowenfield expressed optimism that “by tomorrow (Tuesday) midday, all the Returning Officers (RO)would have had their declarations in the respective districts.”
He told the room of media operatives that the counting of ballots has commenced across the country and would conclude in good time to allow for Statements of Poll (SOP). Lowenfield explained that the SOPs would be placed outside of the respective polling stations as well as transmitted to the Returning Officer and the CEO.
“We will ensure that process commences and concludes as fast as is practicable this evening,” he said.
Lowenfield further noted that whether the process is concluded or not, ROs will be receiving statements and will commence a public verification process.
This includes a public display of statements in every district and the process will continue until all the statements for the particular districts have concluded.
