The de-politicisation of the Guyana Elections Commis-sion (GECOM) remains a key feature of the final observer report for last year's polls.
The Electoral Assistance Bureau's final report on the 2006 general elections has called for the six-person panel to be made up of technocrats and non-political persons. The report said the commission's purpose for existence is to administer the electoral process. "While it is recognised that the commission has to be sensitive to and relate to the political realities, its independence and impartiality must be protected," it explained.
Recently, the parliamentary opposition parties endorsed the nomination of former PNCR-vice chairperson Vincent Alexander to serve as a replacement on the commission for Haslyn Parris, who resigned from the panel shortly before the elections last year.
The report, which was released last week, also suggested that there be an independent, non-partisan, professional multi-stakeholder task force to review the operations of GECOM and its secretariat. The review, it said, would be for the purpose of recommending reforms to ensure transparent and professionally-run polls that conform to national regional and international standards.
In addition, it also called for GECOM to be directly accountable to the National Assembly for financing, in order to make it financially independent.
The report, which was released last week, also recommended a range of legislative reforms to improve the legal framework within which GECOM operates. This includes a general call for update and consolidation of election-related laws into a single piece of legislation. More specifically, it noted that flexible election dates remain a cause for concern, as they introduce a level of uncertainty into the electoral process. As a result, the report urged that fixed election dates be legislated.
Meanwhile, the bureau also repeated a 1997 recommendation for a single national database of all citizens. The report has envisaged the linking of information from the Births and Deaths Registry, a national registration exercise and even immigration and tax records, so that every citizen would be listed in the register. It explained that the register could be used for the extraction of the voters' lists, the production of National ID cards, as well as use by the National Insurance Scheme, the Inland Revenue Department, the police force and other agencies.
The report pointed out that the general procedures for the production of the national register and the voters' lists are set out in several laws, which vest the responsibility for some functions related to it, out of the control of GECOM.
For this reason, it felt the existing arrangements do not provide for the most effective and timely means of undertaking the critical task of the production of the list.
Another key recommendation is for the National Assembly to legislate a code of conduct for political parties for the campaign period, in order to capitalise on the success of the code sponsored by the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) at last year's poll. The bureau envisages an agency supervising the implementation of the code, which would demonstrate its paramountcy over the parties by effecting sanctions and penalties to serve as deterrents. Added to that, the report said, campaign financing laws ought to be reviewed and brought in line with reality and enforcement mechanisms put in place. Also, to avoid any perception of advantage, it urged campaign regulations to govern the use of state resources by candidates and political parties during the election period.
The report also sought to address the quality of the electoral process, and in that vein called for a broad-based review of the current systems in order to identify mechanisms that can be implemented to facilitate independent checks and verification.
For polling, the report said, the voter load per polling place should be increased, based on time and motion studies in order to maximise efficiencies and minimise lines. Additionally, it said that with greater attention to the training of polling staff, considerably more voters could be processed comfortably. On a connected point, it urged the early publication of the scheduled polling stations. It said GECOM's inability to publish a final schedule of stations well in advance of the polls was unacceptable, since it could serve to disenfranchise voters who would not know their polling stations. It added that stakeholders would also not have enough time to scrutinise the list properly. The Bureau recommended that the matter be addressed urgently to ensure that the public and all stakeholders would have early and full knowledge of the whereabouts of polling stations. Additionally, it said there should be adequate arrangements in place to facilitate voting by all voters, including the physically-challenged.
In relation to the declaration of results, the Bureau has said that there need for a review of the current method for tabulation and declaration. It noted that the period between the close of poll and the declaration of results was relatively calm, while pointing out that the potential the build-up of tension and frustration as a result of a delay should not be discounted. As a result, it said that with the availability of modern electronic computing and communication technology systems can be designed to ensure speedy, accurate and reliable publication of results. It added that facilities must be put in place to foster the timely dissemination of the information on statements of poll by the media and other civic groups.