Youth Challenge Guyana (YCG), which fielded a local electoral observer group for last Monday’s elections, has added its voice to those calling for calm as the country awaits an official declaration of the winner of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
In a statement released yesterday, YCG explained that it was not able to witness a complete count of the District Four results following great concern for the safety of its observers.
The group has called for GECOM to put better systems in place to complete the tabulation process and prevent future breaches of the rules by all involved.
“It is our position after continuous observation, since the close of polls and commencement of counting at the Returning Office and Command Centre, that there have been activities which have heightened public insecurity and reduced public trust in the electoral systems of Guyana,” the group explained.
They acknowledged that the staff of the Returning Office and Command Centre have, as far as practicable, executed their roles professionally and that GECOM, within its right, established the rules of engagement on the night of March 2, 2020 informing all stakeholders of the process and their roles and responsibilities which was agreed to be understood by all.
Despite this agreement and the professionalism of staff, GECOM failed to maintain the prescribed rules of engagement and allowed the counting office to become overrun by political agents and then later on the Command Centre, which affected the safety for the staff and all involved.
The secretariat, they stressed, failed to act decisively at the first infraction of the rules and allowed a major political party to have as many as 22 representatives in the counting office.
YCG also noted that most of the political parties engaged in the counting exercise became continually disruptive to the process rather than following the required regulation to lead to the completion of the count by GECOM which at some points became threatening to the safety of GECOM’s staff and further delayed the process.
“One political party, had as many as 25 representatives in one form or the other staging vigorous protests about the process without recognising the hindrance they had become to the process, thus the process was stalled and the secretariat became silent on the actions forward without a transparent view of the remaining counts for District 4,” they concluded.
YCG, which is one of 13 local groups accredited to observe Monday’s elections.
