With the People’s National Congress Reform’s (PNCR) 21st Biennial Delegates Congress set for tomorrow, the party’s Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vincent Alexander is reporting that all systems are in place to ensure a free, fair and transparent elections process.
“The elections machinery has been established, oiled and activated with the concurrence of and under the oversight of all of the stakeholders, including the elders who gave their wisdom in helping to guide the process to a successful and gratifying culmination,” Alexander stated during a press conference yesterday.
The party’s 21st Biennial Delegates Congress kicks off at 9 am tomorrow with the voting process opening at 11 am and running until 7 pm. With the coronavirus pandemic and its limitation on large gatherings, the PNCR would be hosting simultaneous elections across the country at approved locations.
The party said that its elections will be conducted in two stages with the results for each stage being declared before moving on to the next. Stage one would see the election of the Leader, Chairman, two Vice-Chairpersons and Treasurer while the second stage is for the election of members to the Central Executive Committee.
Alexander said that the congress would see the almost 3000 delegates congregating on a virtual platform from 13 approved polling stations across the country and the North American centres.
He noted that such a gathering is unprecedented in Guyana and that the congress has been partly occasioned by the insistence of the membership. He added that the congress should have been held since April but was postponed owing to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“More than being routine, this congress is also slated to witness the changing of the guard. On one hand, the incumbent leader will not be seeking re-election and every other tier of leadership will see relatively young and new blood vying for positions. We are literally witnessing the seamless transitioning of the party’s leadership. This transitioning has also brought with it a noticeable … surge of democratic practices,” Alexander said.
Alexander reported that the voters’ list has been prepared after much scrutiny by the stakeholders. He added that there will be 13 polling stations across the country, four in Region Four and one each in the remaining 9 regions, plus the virtual station in North America with over 100 officials manning those stations. He added that each of the candidates would also have their agents in the polling station observing the process.
“The decisive voting population in the vicinity of 3000 delegates (are) ready to exercise their franchise from 11 am to 7 pm Eastern Caribbean time on Saturday, December 18 with the expectation that preliminary results will be available before praise and worship on Sunday, December 19,” Alexander promised.
He explained that each polling place will be manned by a Polling Officer and Assistant Polling Officer and would have a delegate specific voters’ list – a list with just the names of delegates eligible to vote at that polling place. Speaking to the voting process, Alexander said that delegates will have to present one of four forms of accepted identification – national ID cards, driver’s licence, passport or party card – which will be cross-checked against the voters’ list and ticked off.
Each eligible delegate would receive five ballot papers that carry the names of the candidates with the position they are vying for and are required to tick the candidate of their choice. The CEO said 3 persons are vying for party leader, approximately 5 for Chairman, 12 for Vice-Chair, 5 for Treasurer and 123 candidates for CEC seats.
When asked about mechanisms to ensure transparency, Alexander said that the elections officer in every polling place is independent and that candidates can field agents to ensure the process is fair.
“So we have those mechanisms in place the normal best standard best practices in terms of elections…. So those mechanisms are in place. Notwithstanding the fact that the congress is decentralized, we’ve created a platform so from the command centre we are able to actually see what’s happening live,” he added.
To quell questions in relation to allegations of voter fraud, Alexander, an opposition-nominated member of the Guyana Elections Commission said that once the names of delegates are crossed off then they cannot vote again. He further related that the names would be verified twice before being crossed off of the list.
He also promised preliminary results before sunrise on Sunday.
“The counting process, the elections process is completely outside of the regular machinery of the party. They have requited to the Chief Election Officer the sole responsibility for the elections, including the personnel who will be conducting the various activities in the various locations,” he reiterated.
Yesterday at the press conference, the three candidates vying for the office of party leader, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon, Aubrey Norton and Dr Richard Van West-Charles, expressed their confidence in the election process and Alexander as CEO.
Additionally, they all pledged to work collectively for the development of the party.
