“I don’t anticipate a recurrence of 2020’s problem” – OAS Chief Observer

…lauds “peaceful, disciplined” polling day

Head of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), Bruce Golding, says he does not anticipate that there will be a repeat of the events that marred the 2020 General and Region Elections.

Golding, who had also led the OAS mission at those elections five years ago when there were blatant attempts to subvert the will of the Guyanese people, reported a smooth process during the first half of Monday’s polling day.
He was at the time briefing reporters on his mission’s observations as Guyanese cast their ballots in the 2025 General and Regional Elections. The OAS Chief Observer reminded that the issues that arose at the last elections had nothing to do with the actual conduct of the poll but the tabulation exercise in just one region, that is, Region Four – Guyana’s largest voting district.

“The tabulation exercise in the other nine regions proceeded smoothly without any difficulty. Region Four was where the problem was. I am hoping, and I would put it even stronger than that; I don’t anticipate a recurrence of that problem,” Golding, a former Prime Minister of Jamaica, stated.
After a nearly smooth polling day on March 2, 2020, chaos erupted during the tabulation of the votes after there were blatant efforts by former embattled Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, to inflate the figures in favour of the then A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition regime.
Following a series of legal challenges and a national recount process, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was finally declared the winner of the 2020 elections five months later on August 2, 2020.
Since then, Mingo, along with several former senior officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and political activists attached to the People’s National Congress (PNC)-led coalition, has been charged and placed before the courts for electoral fraud. Those cases are still pending.
In his preliminary report, Golding had said that he “has never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election.” He had noted at the time that, “It takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present fictitious numbers when such a sturdy paper trail exists.”
This time around, however, with the amendments that were made to the regulations to strengthen the transparency and accountability of the tabulation process, the OAS Chief Observer said on Monday that he expects these events to “proceed smoothly”.
“I hope that as soon as a declaration is made – it probably won’t be made today [Monday] or even tomorrow [Tuesday] – by the time all of the various regions have tabulated, I hope that it will be a result that the people of Guyana are satisfied [with and it] and represents the true and free expression of the will of the people,” he asserted.
During the morning half of Monday’s polling day activities, the OAS Mission, which includes 27 experts and observers from 18 countries, visited 342 polling stations in seven of the 10 regions in Guyana.

Impressed
Up to the time of the media briefing around noon, Golding said they were satisfied that the polling exercise started out and was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
“I was particularly impressed,” he noted, adding that “Our observations are that by and large things have been moving smoothly. All of the polling stations that we visited, with the exception of one, opened promptly 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.”
According to the OAS Chief Observer, he was also impressed with how professional and well-trained the polling officials seemed, as they were not hesitant in applying the relevant rules and guidelines. Moreover, he noted that the agents of the various political parties that contested the elections were also vigilant in ensuring that they were able to scrutinise the process.
Following the close of polls on Monday evening, the OAS observers monitored the counting of ballots at several polling stations and thereafter, the tabulation of the results.
“We don’t know how far into the night that will go, but we’re going to drink some black coffee and stay there as long as we need to because we want to see the process through to completion. So, all told, I think the people of Guyana deserve to be congratulated on the peaceful, disciplined way in which they have gone out to cast their ballots… And I expect that the rest of the process will attract the same kind of discipline, orderliness, and professionalism,” Golding asserted.