Britain offers to help GECOM for elections

Last Updated on Friday, 20 March 2015, 11:00 by GxMedia

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) says Britain has promised to provide assistance to hold the upcoming general elections.

The elections management authority said the pledge was made by Britain’s new High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn last Friday during a courtesy call on GECOM’s Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally.

“The British High Commissioner expressed his satisfaction with the works being carried out by GECOM and welcomed the obvious dedication of the GECOM staff. He promised to give any possible support within the capability of Her Majesty’s Government, relative to the 2015 General and Regional Elections,” said GECOM in a statement.

The entity said that among the pertinent issues discussed were GECOM’s state of preparedness for the efficient and effective conduct of the upcoming General and Regional Elections, to be held on May 11, 2015.

Dr. Surujbally took the opportunity to apprise High Commissioner Quinn about certain significant preparatory works already completed by GECOM, as well as those activities currently engaging the attention of the Commission, as it readies itself for the efficient and transparent execution of Elections 2015. Important areas highlighted by the GECOM Chairman were the recent successful completion of the Claims and Objections phase, the commencement of GECOM’s Civic and Voter Education Programme, the imminent finalization of the training of Polling Day Staff, the appointment of Returning Officers for all of GECOM’s ten Divisions, and the soon to be completed list of Polling Places to be used on Elections Day. 

Further, High Commissioner Quinn was informed by Dr. Surujbally that the Commission has already compiled the Revised List of Electors, and will have it posted on Monday March 23, 2015, for 21 days, at two prominent places in all of the Electoral Divisions/Sub-Divisions. Moreover, he was told that the Revised List of Electors will be available on GECOM’s Website at www.gecom.org.gy and will be circulated to all political parties, which have indicated their interest to contest the May 11, 2015 elections.

During his visit to GECOM, High Commissioner Quinn visited the Information Technology and Data Entry Sections of the GECOM Secretariat and briefly met with the European Union funded Joint Technical Assessors, Mr. Daniel Piret and Dr. Alexander Gray. Mr. Quinn later met the Chief Election Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Election Officer, Mr. Vishnu Persaud as well as the recently appointed Returning Officers and the Registration Officers from all of GECOMs Divisions and Sub-Divisions.

Mr. Greg Quinn was able to witness at first hand the interaction between the GECOM Senior Staff and the Returning Officers and their Deputies/Clerks as together they assiduously identified proposed Polling Places which need to have credibility and functionality acceptable to all stakeholders.