Carter Center calls for publication tabulation procedures

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 August 2025, 19:38 by Denis Chabrol

The United States (U.S.) headquartered Carter Center on Tuesday called on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to publish the procedures for tabulating votes to be cast in the September 1 general and regional elections.

“While these changes could provide greater transparency, The Carter Center calls on GECOM to publish detailed tabulation procedures for the public as soon as possible,” the Center said in a pre-election statement.

The 2020 tabulation process for results in Region/District Four had been marred by controversy and alleged irregularities that had led to multiple declarations, in favour of the then incumbent coalition, A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), that were in contrast to statements of poll (SoPs) that were in possession of several contesting parties.

Eventually, there was a national vote recount that saw the declaration of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) as the winner. Several now former GECOM officials and members of the People’s National Congress Reform are before the court on electoral fraud charges.

The changes referred to are the new administrative arrangements that have been introduced to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) that decentralize the tabulation process to the subdistrict level in the three most populous regions — 3, 4, and 6.

The Carter Center says each of these subdistricts will have a supernumerary returning officer to perform functions within the subdistricts similar to those carried out at the district level by returning officers.

Tabulation, the Center notes, will now take place at 17 locations across Guyana’s 10 electoral districts.

The amendments to the Representation of the People Act provide for the immediate online publication of SoPs and tabulation forms, and the electronic display of each SoP during the tabulation process, notes the Carter Center.

The Carter Center notes that the amendments also reinforce the rights of party agents to observe all stages of the process.

Severe penalties were introduced for violations, including noncompliance with the new provisions, such as failing to publish information, delivering false information, not providing certified copies to superiors, or obstructing party agents, the Center says.