Head of the Observer Mission of the Organisation of American States, former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, offered a glowing report of the electoral process in Guyana.

He said he was personally impressed with the level of professionalism exhibited by the election officials at the polling stations.

Golding made the statement after his team visited more than 340 polling stations.

“Our observations are that, by and large, things have been moving smoothly. All of the polling stations that we have visited with the exception of one opened promptly and on time. And that one had a difficulty because when they started out, they didn’t have the screen for the polling compartment but that was quickly corrected and they got the polling station going. All of the required polling officials, the presiding officer, the assistant presiding officer, the poll clerk, the ballot clerk, all of them were in place, all of the materials that were required with the exception of the one I just mentioned were in place,” Golding said.

He said the OAS Observer team was satisfied with the polling exercise, noting that the electoral process was unfolding in an orderly fashion.

“I was particularly impress, I myself visited 62 of those 342 polling stations since morning, and I was particularly impress at how professional, how well trained the polling officials appeared to be, they knew what they were doing, they were not hesitant in applying the relevant rules and guidelines,” the Head of the OAS Observer Mission said.

However, he expressed a bit of concern over the position of the voting compartments at some polling stations.

 “In some polling stations, where we visited, the polling compartment, the screen was fixed in such a way that it faced the walls, so that you couldn’t see from outside how a voter voted. In some of the polling stations, we noticed that it was the position where it was turned around. And when I enquired why it was so, I gathered it was in relation to this effort to prevent voters from photographing their ballots but it was put in such a way that the officials and the party agents would be able to see if anybody was fiddling with a smart phone,” he explained.

Noting that the Presiding Officers were not to be blamed, Golding said there appeared to be a lack of clarity with the regards to the instructions for the positioning of the voter compartments.

Additionally, he said while there were lines at some polling stations, persons waited patiently for their chance to cast their ballot.

Golding said he expects that the process of tabulating the votes and declaring the results of the elections would attract the same level of discipline, orderliness and professionalism.

Golding, who also led the OAS Election Observer team in 2020, said voting was similar to that of 2020, explaining that the problems arose not during the voting process but during the process of tabulating the votes for District 4.

“I don’t anticipate a reoccurrence of that problem. There have been some amendments to the regulations regarding the tabulation process, and I expect that the tabulation will proceed smoothly,” he said.

Golding said he looks forward to the declaration of the results, and hopes that is would be a true and free expression of the will of the people.

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