Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Dr. Steve Surujbally yesterday denied that the voter education drive is behind schedule, saying that everything is going according to its plan as the date for elections nears.
He was at the time responding to recent concerns by three of the four groups contesting the polls, the PPP/C, APNU, AFC, which earlier this week said they were dissatisfied with GECOM’s education drive. In particular, they said more needed to be done to target first time voters.
“They know when we would begin the intensity with civic and voter education. This is not something we do willy-nilly and grasp it out of the air. This is a plan. We are the people who know how to market elections and market elections content,” Dr Surujbally told a news conference yesterday at GECOM’s head office in Kingston. He was accompanied by Chief Elections Officer Gocool Boodoo and a consultant from the Commonwealth Secretariat. Commissioner Robert Williams was also present at the meeting.
Dr. Surujbally presented a case in defence of GECOM’s actions towards ensuring that the voter population was equipped with all the information necessary to vote, reminding that on October 20, 2011, he shared with the media the Voter Education Strategic Plan, which is a part of the overall work plan that has been shared with the political parties. “So they know what our plans would be,” he said.
He noted that Boodoo and his team, having done three or four elections, know the best time to start such a programme. “No sense starting months before and people will forget it,” he said. “All of those who are complaining knew of our plan. They knew when we would begin to impart knowledge to the electorate. They know when we would double our efforts and yet we hear this,” he said.
Dr. Surujbally also noted the collaboration between GECOM and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), which has seen nine pages in the latest telephone directory dedicated to information regarding the 2011 elections. This, he said, was available to the general public since March. “We have reactivated our hotlines and the numbers have been published in the media. We have produced 150,000 copies of a brochure titled ‘What every voter should know about elections in Guyana.’ Tens of thousands of these copies have been given to political parties,” he said, adding that some political parties did not want them because they had their own brochures.
He also pointed to GECOM producing 15 infomercials in the electronic media “long before the parties said we should be doing this. They knew it. They saw it… and yet these statements are made.” He noted that the infomercials deal with issues such as the secrecy of the vote, the ballot papers needing to be stamped, opening and closing of poll, knowing polling stations before Election Day, rights and responsibilities of voters, election offences, the voting process, and voting by proxy, among other things.
The GECOM Election Corner in the four major national newspapers was noted as well.
GECOM, he said, has also been working consistently with Merundoi Inc in a consultative manner “insofar as this company’s production and broadcast of appropriate messages concerning elections is concerned.” The Chairman said that GECOM has complied with the statutory provisions in publishing relevant Notices in the four local daily newspapers pertaining to the Official List of Electors, the political parties that are contesting the elections and their lists of candidates, the appointed Returning Officers and Deputy Returning Officers and their respective offices, lists of polling places, and the decommissioning of ‘old’ National Identification cards, among other issues.
He said GECOM participated in the radio programme “Lets Gaff,” thereby providing information on the electoral processes, as well as at a workshop organised by the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities, providing them with useful information on rights, responsibilities, requirements and the procedures associated with voting.
Dr. Surujbally said that immediately after voting by members of the disciplined forces, “we will deploy bell criers and mobile teams with public address systems at the village and urban/rural levels across Guyana….” He said they would publicise specific civic and voter education messages about election day, the location of polling stations, the hours of voting, the need to check the Official List of Electors etc.” He added that the mobile teams will also be distributing appropriate literature about the elections process, including the step by step procedure for voting.
He said that while it is GECOM’s responsibility to carry out a comprehensive civic and voter education campaign, it does not mean that political parties must abrogate their responsibility to ensure that the civic and voter education messages get to the electorate. “Political parties must be equally involved. After all, it is they who want to get elected. Further, civic and voter education must also have the full functional support of all stakeholders, especially those on whom elections impact the most on e.g. the business community,” he said.
‘Ready’
Dr. Surujbally said GECOM is ready for the voting on Monday by members of the disciplined services, 7,000 of whom are registered to cast their ballots.
He noted that they would be casting their ballots at over about 70 polling stations all over the country. “We were liaising with the heads of the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Prison Service, so that we ensure that officers who should be voting at a certain place are there on that location,” he said.
Boodoo however clarified that Guyana Fire Service and the City Constabulary are not considered part of the disciplined forces and therefore will be casting their ballot on November 28.
The Chairman spoke of added capacity of GECOM with the Commonwealth Secretariat’s provision of expertise in the form of international technical assessor Bruce Hatch.
“Mr. Hatch has served in many areas of the world, many of the hotspots, all successfully, it seems. He was also here in 2006, he said, adding that his expertise is in operational logistics. So he in the right man to have in these last ten days before the elections to see if we are lapsing in any way, if we are in fact having any great deficiencies which he will point out,” Dr. Surujbally said, adding that the expert will be meeting with other stakeholders for their opinions of how GECOM is coming along.
He also said that the ballot papers required for voting at the 2011 general and regional elections have been received. “They are stored at a location which is highly fortified and protected under tight security,” he said. Members of the Commission, he added, actually went to see and observe the printing of the ballot papers.
According to Dr. Surujbally, GECOM has dispatched ballot papers for voting by the non-resident electors – those Guyanese citizens who are working at Guyana embassies and consulates all over the world. He said they amounted to 53 persons and said that this meant that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cut down “meaningfully” on its staff abroad.
GECOM has also been treating with applications for proxy from November 14 and the process was due to end yesterday, in keeping with a statutory requirement.
He added that he received a report that in certain areas the Returning Officer closed the offices for proxy and called it total nonsense, while explaining that if the Returning Officer who is statutorily engaged in this function is not there, the function could legally be done by a clerk. He said too that the offices would be closed at that time of the day that the GECOM offices usually close. “So if that comes to your attention you would nix that immediately,” he said.
Dr. Surujbally also reiterated that persons will not be prohibited from voting if they do not have ID cards and chided those media outlets which have carried news items to the contrary. But, he said that it made sense to collect the ID cards, since it would slow the process down should polling day officials have to rely on the folio and other documents to establish a person’s identity and eligibility to vote.
