Jan 15, 2020 News
The Carter Center has started work to observe Guyana’s upcoming elections.
The announcement came six weeks before the March 2 general and regional elections. This would mark 28 years of work by the respected US-based Carter Center.
According to the center yesterday, following an invitation from the Government of Guyana, it has launched an election observation mission to observe the March 2 general election in Guyana.
“The mission will observe and examine key aspects of the electoral process, including the pre-electoral environment, status of the Guyana Elections Commission’s preparations for elections, and campaigning.”
Already, the Center said, teams of long-term observers are currently deploying across the country and will later be joined by short-term observers and high-level leadership to observe voting, counting, and tabulation procedures.“The Carter Center will also follow the post-election process, including the tabulation of results and resolution of any legal disputes. The international election observation mission will build upon the work done by four fact-finding delegations deployed by the Center in 2019 in the lead-up to election.”
Throughout the election season, The Carter Center said it will issue periodic statements on key findings.
“At the end of the mission, it will provide an independent assessment of the electoral process and its compliance with the country’s international commitments, national law, and standards for democratic elections. All statements and reports will be available at http://www.cartercenter.org.”
The Center disclosed that it has launched a Twitter account especially for this election observation mission –@CarterGuyanaEOM.
The Carter Center has been playing a critical role since 1992, helping to chart the way for what was deemed a free and fair elections.
Since then, it has been coming regularly for elections.
In 2015, its founder, former US president Jimmy Carter was in Guyana for the elections when he fell ill and had to be flown out.
The Carter Center is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University just after his defeat in the 1980 U.S. Presidential election.
According to the Center’s statement, yesterday, its election observation missions are conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, which provides guidelines for professional and impartial international election observation.
The declaration was adopted at the United Nations in 2005 and has been endorsed by more than 50 election observation groups.
The Carter Center said it has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care.
The coming elections, brought on by a no-confidence motion on December 21, 2018 which saw the Coalition Government toppled, said to be one of the critical in the short history this country.
At stakes will be control of a large deposit of oil, offshore.
Commercial production started last month.
