Preparations by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for General and Regional elections on March 2, 2020, are, in fact, ahead of schedule; with one key component of the electoral process, the ballot papers, expected to arrive this week.
GECOM CEO Keith Lowenfield
This was revealed by GECOM Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield at the conclusion of Tuesday’s statutory meeting. He explained that the ballot papers that were printed in Canada in preparation for polling day will arrive in Guyana on Thursday.
He also revealed that there are 2352 polling stations, inclusive of private residences that are mostly located in Region Four along the East Coast of Demerara (ECD). According to Lowenfield, there are a total of 131 private residences
“The Commission will be looking at these with a view of providing a feedback so that I can confirm and ensure these places are gazetted within the statutory period as prescribed,” Lowenfield advised.
When it comes to the establishment of offices for the Returning Officers (ROs) and Deputy Returning Officers (DROs), Lowenfield explained that the Secretariat is in the process of appointing the required staff.
He also told the media that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been engaged in establishing ballot stations. Another stakeholder in the process, persons with disabilities, are currently being engaged to finalise arrangements for them to vote. Lowenfield explained that he has been in contact with Ganesh Singh, a member of the Guyana Council of Persons with Disabilities.
“I’ve engaged Ganesh, the Chairperson, and we have discussed at length the issues of concern to him. And I have responded to him on the request for curbside voting and the inability to do so, since we are not aware as to the specific locations of those persons,” Lowenfield said.
“Both for curbside, and he has also asked for other items which he has advised will be funded. I say again, we don’t have a register to know which stations these things will be used. But I maintain contact with him on all the issues relative to citizens with disabilities.”
It was announced last month that GECOM Commissioners Sase Gunraj and Charles Corbin would be sent to Canada to observe the printing of ballot paper. This was being done by printing firm Canadian Bank Note Company Limited, which first supplied GECOM with elections materials at the 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE).
Canadian Bank Note has a long history with Guyana. It owns the Guyana Lottery Company Limited (GLCL). According to the GLCL website, Canadian Bank Note is a company which supplies printed products and related issuing and control systems in four business areas: lottery systems, identification systems, payment systems, and shareholder services.
In addition to owning GLCL and getting the contract to print Guyana’s electoral materials, Canadian Bank Note also prints Guyana’s currency notes and recently got a US$12.4 million ($2.5 billion) contract to procure a new border management system to cater for e-passports. This was announced in September last year.
The two Commissioners will be in Canada until the production of the ballots is completed. A total of 11 parties have been approved by GECOM to contest the upcoming polls, making this one of the longest election slates in recent memory.
Apart from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC), the other parties contesting are A New and United Guyana (ANUG); The New Movement (TNM); The Citizenship Initiative (TCI); Change Guyana; Fed-Up; Organisation of the Victory of the People (OVP), the United Republican Party (URP) and the People’s Republican Party (PRP).
