The Carter Center has deployed its team of medium term observers as of yesterday according to Team Leader and Assistant Director of the Center’s Global Development Initiative, Jason Calder.
Calder told Stabroek News via email that six medium term observers arrived in the country over the weekend. The core team had arrived a few days prior. He said that so far 10 members of the international team are already in the country and intensive training exercises are being conducted.
He addd that “after the Carter Center teams get out into the field and gather data, which they’ll have done by late next week, we hope to report some of our initial findings.”
Calder added that currently the Center was not in a position to comment on any aspects of the campaign or the current political climate.
He did note that “The Carter Center is looking forward to strong coordination with the other observer missions,” while confirming that the Center has made contact with other observer groups that took part in an Organisation of American States- hosted meeting last week.
The Center has not said when former US President Jimmy Carter, who played a pivotal role in spurring electoral reforms that led to free and fair elections in 1992, will arrive in Guyana.
The Carter Center had met with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally to discuss the strategic direction of its observer mission.
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.
