CARICOM observer mission warns of threat to democracy in absence of electoral reform
-says elections were free and fair
Head of the CARICOM Election Observation Mission to Guyana’s March 2 elections, Cynthia Combie-Martyr has expressed dissatisfaction that previous recommendations to reform the electoral system were never implemented even as Monday’s polls were deemed free and fair.
“Guyana is still in the same situation electorally as it was all those years ago…It looks like we have to actually hold Guyana’s hands…it seems to me that they would have to go back to the basics because obviously what they have been doing is not working,” Combie-Martyr said at the CARICOM Secretariat yesterday, as she presented the mission’s preliminary report on Monday’s general and regional elections.
Combie-Martyr said that the mission is not satisfied “at all” with the manner in which Guyana’s leaders have dealt with the recommendations made. “Suffice to say that CARICOM is not the only observation mission that has made recommendation, documented those recommendations, and yet no one seems to pay any mind to those observations and recommendations,” she said.
The Commonwealth, Organisation of American States and Carter Center have made similar observations.
Combie-Martyr noted that unless there is “the need and the want and the desire” of the country’s leaders to take action to implement the recommendations, “I do not see what else that can be done to get an independent nation to do what it must to maintain the democratic process.”
“CARICOM, of course, is committed to the democratic process, CARICOM is committed to the preservation of the democratic institutions and traditions and we have tried and we will continue to do our part in ensuring that the people of Guyana and the leaders of the Republic of Guyana take it seriously…And unless CARICOM assists its member states in preserving its democratic process, its democratic electoral process, the whole commitment to democracy would resume to nothing,” Combie-Martyr declared.
Further, she said, the CARICOM observation mission, like every other, is concerned about the delay in the releasing of the results of Monday’s polls. She said unless there are improvements and modernisation of the techniques of tabulation and counting of the results, the situation will remain the same.
Combie-Martyr urged the electorate and political parties to exercise patience. “You have waited a couple days so far, another day or two will not kill you. Wait and hope that the party of your choice forms the government and perhaps then you can have some [influence] on the development of your country moving forward,” she said. She also called on the political parties not to take any action that would incite their supporters to do anything they ought not to do.
“…That long wait can sometimes cause a little anxiety and maybe lead to situations that I do not think any of the observation mission or the government of the people of Guyana would like to occur,” she added. Combie-Martyr said that the CARICOM Election Observation Mission looks forward to the publication of the official results as soon as is practicable.
“Free, fair and transparent”
Meanwhile, Combie-Martyr said that following preliminary observations and assessment of information obtained from stakeholders and the CARICOM observer team, the mission has concluded that the election was free, fair and transparent.
On election day, Combie-Martyr said, CARICOM observers were deployed to five of the ten administrative regions; namely regions Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten. They visited a total of 360 polling stations across the country.
Combie-Martyr said that the CARICOM observation mission was impressed by the efficiency, competence and professionalism demonstrated by polling officials on election day. This, she said, demonstrated the level and standard of the training provided by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
She said that polling progressed “smoothly” in a “peaceful” environment and in an “orderly” manner.
There were, however, some “minor” issues which Combie-Martyr said were identified and resolved. “Generally, a pleasant atmosphere of peace and calm amongst electors, with no sign of hostility amongst electors. The observers did not observe any incidents of violence,” Combie-Martyr said.
Among the areas of concern were issues arising at polling stations such as the lack of provisions for persons with disabilities and poor visibility of polling signs. “CARICOM observers were concerned about the access ramps and other support structures to the polling stations/places for differently abled members of society were not always available, [and] school-located polling stations that had ground floor access were not utilised and instead were located in the upper floors, thereby creating undue serious difficulty for differently abled electors,” she related.
Combie-Martyr added that the signage of polling stations and directions to electors were not large enough and placement was such that the signs were not always easily visible. “It was felt that this may have contributed to the electors walking into the wrong stations and having to spend precious voting time relocating,” Combie-Martyr said. She said the mission believes that with larger, clearer defined signage, this challenge could have been averted. The polling stations, however, met the GECOM standards in terms of general layout. As it relates to the polling day officials, Combie-Martyr said that the observers found that they were pleasant, efficient, experienced and generally professional.
“We noted some minor instances in which presiding officers were a bit agitated in dealing with polling agents, but it was felt that these instances were not significant enough to hinder the administration or quality of the poll,” she said.
On the other hand, the CARICOM mission head said more could have been done by polling officials to scrutinise the fingers/hands of voters for any visible signs of previous voting.
Additionally, Combie-Martyr related that there was some delay in the process since poll workers were allowed to leave their respective stations to vote. “In this regard, it is one of the recommendations of the CARICOM observers that provision must be made to include poll workers in the advance poll,” she said.
Voters’ conduct was deemed “remarkable, responsible, calm and orderly.”
Disciplined services
The CARICOM mission was unable to witness the advance voting of the disciplined services, which was held on February 21st, for which there was a reported 81 per cent turnout.
However, Combie-Martyr said that there were concerns relating to the intermixing of the ballots.
She said during a count at one of the Georgetown polling stations, there was an issue of incorrect folding of the ballots cast by the disciplined services in the advance poll and subsequent stamping of the ballot by the presiding officer at that polling station on election day, during the inter-mixing of the two sets of ballots.
“The effect was that the verification stamp was not properly applied and resulted in the ballots appearing to be double stamped or not stamped in the correct location on the ballot or not stamped at all. This resulted in what the observers considered to be a “valid vote” from the standpoint of those electors, being declared by the presiding officer at the count on election night, as being deemed a spoilt/rejected/invalid ballot, which would not be included in the count,” she explained.
“That declaration was opposed by party agents present at the count. The presiding officer, however, did advise on the option for party agents to lodge “queries” in respect to those ballots and to do so within 24 hours of polling day,” CombieMartyr added.
She said the mission recommended that GECOM address these matters as it relates to the education and training of polling officials with regards to the inter-mixing of the ballots.
The CARICOM Election Observation Mission was organised at the invitation of the Government of Guyana, to observe the elections. The 17-member mission comprises nationals of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
The mission was led by Martyr, who is the Chairperson of the Saint Lucia Electoral Commission.