Following the submission of 26 recommendations in their report on the 2020 General Elections where eight were singled out as priority areas, the European Union Election Observation follow-up mission yesterday said that many of them are still concerns of stakeholders today, with only two implemented.
It is against this background that the mission has reiterated the need for legal and constitutional reform to improve the electoral process, in line with international standards for democratic elections.
Of the many concerns raised by the many stakeholders that have met again, is the fact that the issues of the use of state media and campaign financing still have not been addressed nor is there any traction on how soon there can be an agreement among policy makers on these issues.
And going into elections 2025 and beyond with this country set to generate the majority of its revenue from the oil and gas sector, the mission believes that it is also imperative that two international anti-corruption conventions be implemented as part of local laws, to prevent corruption especially through the very election campaign financing.
“The Convention on Corruption, I don’t think is captured… your country has been blessed by oil and many resources. So your country will be one of the most impressive countries in development. Development is kind of double cutting. It is good for the population if there is development and this influx of money is inclusive…[and on the other hand] that the administration is not overwhelmed by this influx of money that, as I say, is a blessing or a challenge,” Chief of Mission, Javier Nart told reporters at a press conference held at the Pegasus Hotel yesterday.
On campaign financing, he said that “when financing is dark and you don’t know who is financing… the possibility is that the election is touched.”
Nart, a Spaniard, also expressed that it was important to regulate the amount of money that goes into political coffers against international standards and best practices. “Financing is critical because controlling of financing, accountability…is very, very important. When a party goes to an election and have no limit with its spending, it is like running with a Ferrari against someone who is on feet. Who is going to win? Of course the Ferrari wins! So, we have to have an equal playing field… so the spending has to have a limit,” Nart reasoned.
“Secondly, the state assets. When you are in power, the possibility of taking public assets for the party, it is something that happens. This is also important,” he added.
The Mission’s legal expert, Anne Marlborough, also explained why having the adoption of international laws here was important to citizens. “If it’s not incorporated into domestic law, then it can’t be used and civil society may wish to use those instruments in litigation, perhaps, against government or in advocacy against government,” she said.
“So it’s important that whatever the legal obligations are that they become relevant so that they can be relied upon in local courts and that they can be used to make governments accountable not just in Guyana,” she added.
The EU mission had fielded 55 observers from 25 EU member states and Norway on Election Day itself and a core team was able to observe and report on all aspects of the election process until 20 March 2020 when, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was repatriated to Europe.
Ventilated
The EU EOM had released its report and highlighted issues that were ventilated over a number of past elections. Noting that the March 2 general and regional elections took place in a deeply polarized environment, it highlighted that legal uncertainty, unregulated political finance, biased state media and lack of transparency in the administration of elections characterised the pre-election context. However, it said that overall the elections were competitive and contestants could campaign freely. (See website link) https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/eu_eom_guyana_2020_-_final_report_0.pdf?fbclid=IwAR37zcfidVuE1S2NXbFlJ9vTIJctHWHhEgereD_pUQD-Lb21TwN98fOh2hY
Some 26 recommendations were made and eight of those were highlighted as priority areas.
“1. Review and consolidate the fragmented election legislation to strengthen legal clarity and certainty. 2 Launch a national consultation process to overhaul the composition and functioning of the Elections Commission, notably to ensure a more inclusive representation of the various components of the Guyanese society and political spectrum. 3. Develop, in a consultative process, effective legislation to regulate political finance, taking the principles of equality, transparency and accountability into account. Such legislation could provide transparency in campaign incomes and establish reasonable limits for campaign expenditure as well as disclosure and reporting requirements and effective sanctions. Consideration may also be given to the establishment of an independent oversight body. 4. Introduce a legal and regulatory system that transforms the state-owned media into a genuine public service broadcaster. This includes provisions granting editorial independence, financial autonomy, clear separation from any government institution, and an open and competitive selection process of its board members,” the report stated.
It continued, “5.To foster transparency and accountability in online and offline campaigning, policymakers could consider introducing detailed reporting requirements for those who paid for sponsored materials as well as for those who received payments. In order to enable voters to easily distinguish between paid advertising and other information, any sponsored campaign-related material should be clearly labelled to indicate who paid for it. 6. Adopt clear written procedures for the transmission and tabulation of election results, notably to ensure consistency of the process in all regions, adequate traceability of handed over electoral documents, and possibility for all authorized stakeholders to examine SOPs as required by law. 7. Incorporate into law the obligation to accompany any declaration of results by simultaneous publication of detailed polling station results and digital copies of all SOPs. In addition to the number of valid votes cast for each candidate list, these detailed results should also include all elements of electoral accounting to allow control of their coherence, such as number of registered voters; voters who voted; rejected ballots; spoiled ballots; etc. 8. Establish comprehensive election dispute resolution system to ensure effective and timely remedies throughout all stages of the electoral process.”
The mission returned this month to assess whether progress has been made, with regard to the recommendations made, and they had met with a wide range of electoral stakeholders including members of the government, the Guyana Elections Commission, members of Parliament, representatives of political parties and civil society.
They held a round-table meeting and said they identified the present opportunity for reform.
“It is now mid-way through the electoral cycle leading to elections in 2025. Two years still remain in which electoral reform can be undertaken, particularly procedural and legislative reform. Constitutional reform will be slower, but has been initiated with the enactment of the Constitution Reform Commission Act. It is important that the momentum around legal and constitutional reform be maintained and built upon in the interest of improving future general elections,” the mission quoted Nart as saying at that meeting.
Yesterday, EU Electoral Analyst, Alexander Matus stated that the mission was pleased that two of the priority recommendations were implemented. One related to the publication of Statements of Polls and has been implemented in full through provisions contained in the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act. The other area dealt with the obligations of declaration.
“We suggested that clear tabulation procedures, written procedures are implemented, and this has been taken care of by one of the provisions in the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act… the second priority recommendation called for increased transparency in the response process,” Matus said.
Nart had also weighed in on this when he met with stakeholders. ”It is positive to note that two priority recommendations have been implemented in full. The Act now provides clear written procedures for the tabulation of election results and the new measures will enhance the transparency of the tabulation process, through robust publication of Statements of Poll. Implementation of the other recommendations offered by the EU EOM, particularly the remaining six priority ones, would greatly enhance the efficacy, transparency and integrity of the electoral process,” he said.
The state’s role with the media was also highlighted again as the abuse of state resources had been highlighted in the 2020 report.
“We have four recommendations in the area of media and one of social media and those are very much about the perceived bias in state media and the bias in the method of appointment is very much tied to government there,” Malbourgh said. .
“We did media monitoring and cataloged quantitatively …Nothing has changed in the legal framework since 2020 around the area of regulation of media,” she added.
She said that government has expressed that it has been working on recommendations and that it had initiated the constitutional reform process. The mission, she explained is waiting to see if electoral reform forms part of that process.
“We recommended consolidation. There is a project underway to consolidate the laws. A professional company is trying to harmonize the law so they no longer contradict each other. We have had extensive engagements with government and in those engagements where we learned about the process and the areas where there has not been no progress. The other thing we have learned about is the constitutional reform process. Nothing has been initiated as yet. We are interested in observing how that goes. What we are interested in is opportunities for electoral reform. And then is there a meaningful consultation with all stakeholders and society,” she said.
The Head of the Mission also explained that the recommendations are only to guide on what are best practices in western democracies and that the mission was no “elections police” but is here to point out what are international standards and feedback it has from the community .
Nart, a journalist and politician, pointed out that many of the recommendations for electoral reform require the political will of all parties as “if there is no political will the situation will go on as it is now.”
