GUYANA – The Organization of American States (OAS) election monitors have reaffirmed their assessment that Guyana’s August 28 general and regional elections “were conducted in a manner that does credit to all concerned.”
The preliminary report of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission, which Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin delivered to the Permanent Council today, stressed that the current post-election momentum provides an opportunity for Guyana and its political leaders “to work across party and ethnic lines to address the social and economic challenges of the 21st century.”
Ambassador Ramdin, who led the team of monitors, told the member state ambassadors that the environment that existed during the campaign, on election day and thereafter, should be continued in order to “promote dialogue and an inclusive approach to governance.”
He said all stakeholders, including political parties, electoral authorities, civil society and the Disciplined Forces, welcomed the presence of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission—the largest ever fielded by the OAS in an English-speaking Caribbean country. Ramdin reported that the OAS provided the only mission that had a presence in all of Guyana’s 10 administrative regions, monitoring more than half of the 2,000 polling stations. The mission, which on election day itself consisted of 123 monitors from 24 countries, provided “a systematized method of reporting observations from the field that covered each stage of election day, from the opening of the polls to the closing, counting of the votes and transmission of results.”
The Assistant Secretary General commended the Guyanese people and the Guyana Elections Commission for their diligence and for the professional and disciplined conduct of the elections, and noted that the OAS is encouraged at the ongoing discussions between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin on key issues facing the country.
Ramdin also thanked the Guyana government, the Permanent Mission of Guyana to the OAS, the political parties and GECOM for cooperating with and assisting the OAS Election Observation Mission. He specifically acknowledged the financial assistance provided by several governments, including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States to facilitate the OAS mission.
Thanking the OAS as well as the countries that provided assistance for the observation mission, Guyana’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Bayney Karran, hailed the peaceful, positive and uncontroversial outcome to the electoral process as having “the potential to turn a new page in Guyana’s political history.” He described the end result of the electoral process as “an important show of faith in the institutions of the country.”
Responding to the report, the member state delegations reiterated their support for the work done by the OAS observer team, adding their own congratulations to the Guyanese people on this important electoral exercise. They also supported a recommendation, put forward by Grenada’s Ambassador Denis Antoine, who participated in the election observation team, that the OAS remain engaged in Guyana.
