The Carter Center plans to have six medium-term observers deployed by April 22 as part of its plan to establish its presence here for the General and Regional Elections on May 11.
The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) in a statement yesterday related that a precursor team of observers visited on Friday to discuss the strategic direction of the observer mission.
“Team Leader and Assistant Director, Global Development Initiative, Mr Jason Calder indicated that the Carter Center may be looking to establish a core medium observer team of four persons to lead its mission,” Gecom said.
Calder has since left Guyana.
According to Gecom, “The Carter Center is expected to have at least 30 short-term observers deployed closer to the Election Day. A total of 42 persons are expected to complete the Carter Center’s Observer Mission.”
The six-person medium observer team is to comprise three separate two-person units. Gecom said the preliminary logistics included one team to observe Regions 2, 3 and 7; another team to cover Regions 5 and 6 and the final team to cover Regions 1, 8 and 9.
Gecom Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally expressed satisfaction that the Carter Center was taking an interest in the elections. He gave his commitment that the commission would assist however possible and a request was made to have the Center send all plans and training materials so Gecom could assess them for accuracy and completeness.
The Chairman asked that the Carter Center work alongside the commission in explaining to the public that the need for calm was imperative as they awaited the official results.
In March the Private Sector Commission wrote to US Secretary of State John Kerry requesting his assistance to have the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center field a full observer mission for the May 11 general elections.
The Center has not fielded a mission here in recent elections. However, in a report following the August 2006 elections, the Carter Center had recommended changing the Carter-Price formula for the composition of the Gecom to avoid division along political lines. In that report, dated February 15, 2007, it had stated that with sufficient preparations, local government elections should be held before the end of that year.
Representing the Carter Center at Friday’s meeting along with Calder was Operations Manager Pedro Teixeira.
Surujbally was accompanied by Gecom Public Relations Officer Richard Francois.
