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GECOM performed admirably in elections
Jan 07, 2012 Letters
Dear Editor,
The opposition PNC-APNU has been calling for the heads of GECOM following its defeat at the just concluded elections. The management and conduct of the latest election is the best in the nation’s history.
There were issues in the conduct of the election, but these had nothing to do with the two heads of the body. Rather it had to do with counting of the ballots and the official declaration of the outcome. The counting was fast, but getting the SOPs to GECOM’s office was held up – perhaps deliberately by those who were supposed to deliver the statements to the office. The receipt of the official SOPs determined when the official outcome could be announced to the public. Regardless of who administers the election, the complaint from the opposition would be the same. The opposition’s problem is not how the election was conducted but the outcome. If the opposition had won the election, there would have been praises for GECOM. If the opposition does not win, then the election was not properly conducted.
We have had that experience in every election in Guyana. It is about time, the opposition learns to accept the outcome of free and fair elections. All the observer bodies in Guyana said the elections were properly conducted and were free and fair, heaping praises on GECOM. The bodies, did however, say that the announcement of elections need improvement.
The announcement was held up because of games played by certain polling agents in the delivery of SOPs. If they had followed protocols and established procedures, the announcement would have been made promptly.
The leadership of GECOM performed admirably, although they need to work on the declaration of results to be timely.
Vishnu Bisram
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