As General and Regional Elections loom closer, the European Union (EU) has announced that it will be fielding teams of observers to cover every single region in Guyana. These observers will be complemented by a team of analysts.
It was explained that there will be long-term observers deployed for six weeks countrywide. These observers will be replaced just before elections with short-term observers, who will be active during and after voting.
During an interaction with the media at the European Union’s (EU) High Street, Kingston office on Tuesday, EU Deputy Chief Observer Alexander Matus, gave some details as to how many EU observers will be in the field.
“We have a core team of nine experts. We have 14 long-term observers. And we’ll have 20 short-term observers. And we might also be joined by some diplomats, who are accredited to the diplomatic missions in Guyana,” Matus said.
“Today (Tuesday), we are deploying 14 long-term observers across the country. They will be working in teams of two, which means the mission will have seven Long-Term Observer teams. All 14 observers are very experienced.”
He explained that these Long-Term Observers (LTOs) were drawn from 14 different EU member states, most of them new members. According to Matus, these observers will be the “eyes and ears” of the European Union and will report their observations back to them.
Matus further explained that as part of their duties they will be visiting polling stations and meeting with stakeholders in teams of two. He also noted that they will be paying close attention to issues raised about the Official Voters’ List (OLE).
“In the last three days, they’ve received extensive training on the electoral, political, media, security and logistics aspect of their work… they’ll be observing all the electoral preparations and also the campaign in all ten regions. That includes the information displayed to the voters like the voters’ list.”
“We will be observing base don methodologies and one of the principles of methodology is the long term and nationwide coverage. So as much as possible we [usually] try to observe all across the country, wherever the country. So, Guyana has 10 regions, so we’ll deploy observers to all 10.”
It is understood that the European Union’s Chief Observer, Urmas Paet, will arrive in Guyana on Tuesday as well. Paet, a member of the European Union’s Parliament, is expected to host a press conference at the Marriott Hotel on Thursday.
Besides the EU, the Carter Center has also launched its observer mission in Guyana. According to the Carter Center in a statement last month, the observer mission has already been deployed around the country.
These observers, it was explained, will later be joined by short-term observers and high-level officials from the Center.
The mission will observe and examine key aspects of the electoral process, including the pre-electoral environment, status of the Guyana Elections Commission’s preparations for elections, and campaigning.
“Teams of long-term observers are currently deploying across the country and will later be joined by short-term observers and high-level leadership to observe voting, counting, and tabulation procedures,” the Center further explained.
Their roles will include observing voting, counting and tabulation procedures by GECOM staff. The Carter Center also noted that they are prepared for any eventuality post-elections, including mediating any potential legal challenges against the results.
Other overseas-based observers expected to participate in overseeing the election include teams from the Organisation of American States (OAS), as well as the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
GECOM is also getting assistance from a number of technical advisors who were provided by other countries and international organisations. Canada, for instance, is providing GECOM with Jean-Pierre Kingsley, a Canadian elections expert.
The Commonwealth is also providing the services of its senior technical advisor, Dr Afari Gyan, who arrived in Guyana last month. It is also understood that Dr Syed Nasim Zaidi, an elections advisor from India, is also expected to join the team. In fact, this publication has been reliably informed that Zaidi has since arrived and met with the Commission.
