The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) will hold a training exercise with members of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) on Friday at the Union’s Headquarters on Regent Street.
The exercise is being carried out to ensure that the GPSU observers on Election Day are accurately trained to execute their task of “election observation with the required efficiency and integrity,” Gecom said in a press release.
GPSU President Patrick Yarde and members of the Executive Council were given a brief outline of the prerequisite principles and guidelines for local election observers when they met the commission last Friday.
The statement added that Gecom Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally explained the importance of local observers paying strict attention to Gecom’s established terms of reference, so as to ensure that they operate in a professional manner within the spirit and letter of the principles and guidelines outlined in Gecom’s Observer Protocols.
The statement noted further that the commission expects that by providing the necessary training in its election observation principles and guidelines, it will receive “positive and constructive feedback” that can further help to improve Guyana’s electoral processes.
“As a consequence, the continuous development of our democratic election culture will be further facilitated and enhanced,” the statement read, adding that Surujbally lauded the GPSU for its initiative to become a local election observer.
The statement indicated that he said “free, fair, creditable and transparent elections are the hallmark of Gecom’s electoral management principles and best practices. And since observing elections is one of GPSU’s action priorities, Gecom is looking forward to a most rewarding working relationship with the union.”
