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GECOM CAN BE THE SPOILER

Mar 23, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Elections are not straightforward in Guyana. They are besieged by controversies, characterized by suspicion, decorated with a lack of trust and have the potential to rapidly degenerate into instability.
Every single election since 1964 has been marred with problems. Every election since 1992 has seen the losers express reservations about the results, even though in 2006 this was lesser than in previous and subsequent polls.
In 1992, a major loophole which had aided voter fraud was plugged. Counting votes at the place of polls allowed for greater confidence that rigging would be abolished. But yet there were other problems that threatened to overturn the elections of 1992.
There was an attempt to create problems outside of the Guyana Elections Commission building on Croal Street. It was only because Jimmy Carter was physically present and his quick count demonstrated that the PPPC had won that the results of those elections were accepted by the opposition.
The problems of alleged disenfranchisement were believed to have been fixed in the run up to the 1997 elections.
Yet controversy was conjured up when at some polling stations in only one Region alone, the persons responsible for transmitting the results at their polling stations ran off to Congress Place with the results, causing mass confusion since these results could not to be tabulated.
Steps were taken to ensure that situation would not repeat itself in 2001. It did not but another problem arose.
This time it was violence and unrest began in Buxton and interestingly quickly spread into many villages along the East Coast where the main opposition enjoyed support.
There was a feeling that this unrest was organized. It got out of control following the prison break and the siege of Buxton.
The 2006 elections did not attract too many problems but just before the elections there was an attempt by opposition elements at mass disenfranchisement of supporters of the PPPC.
Questions were also raised about the preliminary voter’s list. After the elections, there were strong demands for house- to –house registration which eventually took place. In those elections also there was a problem with the declaration of results for Region 10 which is widely believed to have robbed the AFC of a seat.
In the 2011 elections, the PPPC believes that it was robbed of a majority because of the fact that results at seventeen polling stations in Region 3 were not tabulated.
There was also open voter intimidation and the PPP has alleged that there was some connivance between GECOM personnel and the opposition that led it being robbed.
No one knows for sure just what problems are going to occur this year.
Because in as much as one can attempt to cover all bases and plug as many loopholes as possible, there is always the human factor which has to be accounted for and which can lead to problems.
However, it is important that there be some amount of planning to cater for possible areas of problems.
In such planning one has to try to think about possible scenarios that can develop and which can cause problems during the elections. One has to think in other words about possible game- spoilers.
The main game-spoiler I believe can be GECOM. While GECOM says that it is ready, I am not that convinced. I am not convinced that GECOM has its act together as yet. It takes more than fancy talk for this to happen and GECOM has been talking a lot ever since concerns were raised about its degree of preparedness.
It is unfortunate that local government elections were not held over the past three years. This would have afforded an opportunity to see how GECOM’s systems were holding up and what were some of the likely areas that needed attention and improvement.
For elections to be credible in Guyana, they have to meet a higher standard similar to that of other countries.
They have to be near flawless. Do you really believe GECOM can deliver a credible election, much less one that is near to flawless?
Do you believe that the fancy talk by GECOM can be matched by its performance? I doubt it very much.
In tomorrow’s column, I will outline some of the areas where attention needs to be paid so as to ensure the integrity of the election.

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