GUYANA – Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), arrived in Guyana on Tuesday, August 22, 2006 to head up the OAS Electoral Observation Mission that will monitor the country’s August 28 general and regional elections.
The hemispheric organization is observing the election at the invitation of the Guyana government, which made a formal request earlier this year. The OAS is observing the process leading up to and immediately following the vote, and will report its findings of how it viewed the entire electoral process.
The mission being led by Ambassador Ramdin will comprise some 60 international election observers, who will cover Guyana’s 10 administrative regions. The OAS election monitors have begun arriving in the country. They will join a two-member, long-term technical mission – made up of Eugene Petty, of St. Kitts and Nevis, and Anne Fudge, of Canada – that has been in Guyana since May.
During previous visits to Guyana, the OAS Assistant Secretary General met with a wide cross-section of interests, including government leaders and electoral authorities, as well as representatives of political parties, local electoral observer groups, the private sector and the international community.
CARICOM Observer Mission Set For Guyana Elections
Mr. Hensley Robinson former Chief Elections Officer of Barbados will lead a twelve member team of electoral observers from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to observe the General Elections in Guyana. CARICOM has been invited by the Government of Guyana to monitor the preparations for the General Elections and to observe the conduct of the Elections on 28 August 2006.
The other members of the Mission will include former and present Chief Elections Officers from CARICOM Member States. The Mission is expected to be in place by Thursday 24 August.
The CARICOM Electoral Observer Mission will hold consultations with electoral officials, leaders of political parties, representatives of civil society, and the media, on various aspects of the electoral process.
The Observer Mission will observe the final preparations for the elections, as well as the conduct of the elections on Polling Day including the counting of the ballots.
A report on the outcome and findings of the CARICOM Observer Mission will be submitted to the Community through the Secretary-General of CARICOM.
