The Commonwealth Elections Observer Mission has steered clear from criticizing the Guyana Elections Commission for the long delay in the declaration of the results of Monday’s general and regional elections.
“I will not be drawn into entering negative criticism on the logistics of transporting things in a country that is as large as Guyana,” Owen Arthur, former Barbados Prime Minister and head of the mission told the media on Wednesday. Arthur at the time was responding to questions regarding the declaration of the results.
Reporters had alluded to the speed in which results are usually declared in Barbados as compared with Guyana and to this he replied: “Given Barbados’ geography and demographics, the results would have been “quickly done,” Arthur said while pointing out, however, that Barbados was much smaller than Guyana. “I don’t think that there is any deliberate attempt to try to impose logistical difficulties,” he said.
The Organisation of American States (OAS) was not so reserved. It’s Chief of Mission, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, championed the cause for the use of technological solutions for the tabulation of votes that would result in an early declaration of the results.
Based on the OAS Mission’s observation, Golding said Guyanese are concerned about the length of time taken to tabulate and determine the results of both the General and Regional Elections, though cognizant of the challenges GECOM faces as a result of the country’s geographical layout and the employ of a manual tabulation system.
“Guyana’s largely manual electoral system requires the transportation of electoral materials, including the statements of poll, by land, water and air to the Returning Officers in each of the 10 Regions and to the Chief Elections Officer in Georgetown, in order to facilitate the tabulation, verification and declaration of the results of the elections,” Golding noted. It was further noted that the only area of automation in the counting process occurs at the CEO’s office where a computer application supports the tabulation of the results. As such, the OAS Electoral Observation Mission made a strong case for enhanced technological solutions to be employed for the collection and transmission of images of the Statements of Poll and collated results from the various regions.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_03_06_2020