Surujbally receives award for elections management - GECOM

The International Centre for Parliamentary Studies (ICPS), has chosen Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally to be this year’s recipient of the ICPS Award for Sustained Achievement in the Field of Elections Management, a release from GECOM said yesterday.

This Award honours the responsibilities of the Head of an Electoral Commission, as well as his/her commitment and contribution towards strengthening the international electoral community, the release said.

The 2016 International Electoral Awards Committee comprised eight professionals including experts from the Division for Referenda and Elections (Council of Europe), the Coalition of Domestic Elections Observers (Ghana), IFES’s Directorate for Europe and Eurasia, and from the Office of the former Chairman of the Electoral Commission of the UK.

Whereas, in all of the Award Categories, there were several candidates from whom the winner was chosen, the release said that Dr. Surujbally was the only candidate for the ICPS Award for Sustained Achievement in the Field of Elections Management. Dr Surujbally has headed GECOM for the last decade and a half.

On presenting the trophy, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the ICPS, Matt Gokhool, expressed his “hope that the recognition of the accomplishments of this year’s awardee will serve as a beacon for his peers in the field of electoral management”.

Responding to the ovation and endorsement of his Award, Dr. Surujbally said that he stood on the stage only as the symbolic recipient of the Award which he accepted on behalf of GECOM and its committed and dedicated staff, which he had the privilege to lead for more than 15 years, the release said. The International Electoral Awards Ceremony took place on December 5th - 6th, 2016, in Maputo, Mozambique.