An election observer mission from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has arrived in Guyana and will be monitoring elections on Monday together with the other local, regional and international observer groups.
While some members of the contingent from the South American nations arrived yesterday, their chief of mission is scheduled to arrive today from Uruguay, after which they will make official statements to the media.
The members of the UNASUR observer mission was part of an orientation and training session that the Guyana Elections Commis-sion (GECOM) held for the local and international observer missions here for the elections.
These missions include the Commonwealth Secretariat, the CARICOM Secretariat, the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), and the Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB).
Over the past three days, the various political parties have been meeting with the observer missions with a view to ensuring that they understand their concerns leading up to the elections. The PPP/C in a letter on Wednesday told the observer missions that the opposition parties were out to sow the seeds of racial disunity.
The Alliance for Change (AFC) raised access to the state media and what the party described as gaps in the voter education process, among its concerns.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) also raised issues of weaknesses in the voter education system.
Meanwhile, the OAS confirmed the size of their observer mission yesterday, when a training session was held for them before their deployment into the field. This is according to Professor Gordon Shirley, Chief of Mission for the OAS elections observer mission (EOM).
“I am delighted that the OAS\EOM Guyana has been able to field the largest number of international observers at this election,” said Professor Shirley. “Some 25 election Observers from 14 countries will begin to be deployed [today] and will be present throughout Guyana in the period leading to election day and will be present across Guyana on election day from the opening of the polls until the last ballot is cast” he added.
According to a press release from the mission’s media contact, the OAS\EOM Guyana is represented by observers from Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Venezuela.
