As the nation gears up for the March, 2020, General and Regional Elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must pull out all stops to ensure that there is a free, fair and transparent electoral process. The commission must, therefore, guarantee that its workforce is free of persons who are “overtly supportive” of political parties. This is according to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo.
The politician, during a news conference earlier today, said that GECOM has a duty to ensure that the persons it hires, subscribe to ensuring a free and fair democratic process. He offered some suggestions on how this can be achieved
“Those people who have demonstrated in the past that they act in a partisan manner on polling day, should have no place in the elections machinery…We’ve already suggested to GECOM about random placement of people; so no one knows which polling place you’re going to be managing – particularly Presiding Officers. So, that could help with the fairness and thwart any attempt to have an orchestrated plan to rig elections,” he said.
The duties of the Presiding Officer includes, but not limited to: ensuring that polling day staff subscribe to the Oath of Office, declaring the poll open, ensuring that the Polling Station functions in an orderly manner at all times, and ensuring that the persons attending the Polling Station, other than voters are authorized to enter.
Jagdeo noted that his Party’s recruitment concerns come against the backdrop of several person, who have been openly supportive of political parties in the past, applying for positions within GECOM. The politician said that these positions are critical ones and if they are not executed correctly, can compromise the voting process.
He maintained that the recruitment process must therefore be “open” and be able to withstand scrutiny.
“This has to be an open, transparent [and] fair process – the recruitment of the staff. [But] not just recruitment, but the selection process itself has to be open and fair. People should be hired on the basis of merit. Whatever the configuration of the staff at the end of the day, the PPP will not have a problem with who gets hired, providing they are professional people, and they are hired on the basis of merit,”
Also, the Opposition leader said that he is “disappointed” at the fact that several foreign observers are yet to arrive to monitor activities at GECOM, particularly in the area of information technology. Nevertheless, he expressed optimism that when they do arrive, they will still be able to conduct the required test.
“They should be here before now, but sometimes people don’t want to come for Christmas and I do think that their arrival in January will give them adequate time to run the internal test to ensure that we do not compromise on quality in terms of preparations for elections. They can run the tests on the list and look at polling day logistics, etc. [but] I would have preferred them to be here very early,” he noted.
