GECOM promises early results of March 2 polls

─accurate, credible results paramount

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, February 11, 2020

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has assured that everything will be done to ensure that the results of the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections are available in the shortest possible time.

However, it is the provision of accurate and credible results that is most central.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward today said GECOM understands the “anxiety” of the electorate after casting their ballots, but noted that the commission is equally concerned about declaring the accurate results.

GECOM-PRO

GECOM, Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward.

Appearing on the Kaieteur Radio programme this evening, Ward noted that the Laws of Guyana makes provision for the declaration of results some 15 days after the close of polls. She said however that the election body, barring its challenges works to declare the results soonest.

“Understanding the anxiety in persons, it is important for us to deliver results in the shortest possible time. And not just delivering the results, it is the delivery of accurate and credible results within the shortest possible time.”

“We have built on lessons learnt and we have been working out our own operations and administrative subsets, to ensure that we can deliver elections results in the shortest possible time,” she said in the interview.

Addressing the challenges responsible for the usual delay, the PRO pointed out Guyana’s geographical layout and the remoteness of many of the participating communities.

“Some riverain communities are only accessible by plane while others are by boat. Therefore moving Statements of Polls (SOP’s) from those locations to the city to affect the full tabulation can pose some challenges,” she explained.

Added to that, she noted that Guyana’s laws currently provides only for manual voting.

Further, the PRO explained that the Returning Officers for each administrative region will have to declare the results of the Regional Elections before the General results are announced.

“It is something I hope the electorate can really understand; the challenges we have in terms of the geography and the logistics and what it entails to ensure we have the timely declaration of the results. But we are working through all the systems to ensure that we can have the results within the shortest possible time,” she reiterated.

Meanwhile, the Official List of Electors (OLE) has been made available to the public. GECOM also reported that some 13,000 persons have been trained to man the more than 2,300 polling stations on elections day.

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