EU Election Follow-up Mission encourages legal and constitutional reform to improve the electoral process in line with international standards for democratic elections
Georgetown, 24 May 2023
The European Union has deployed an Election Follow-up Mission (EU EFM) to Guyana to assess progress towards electoral reform. This EU EFM is led by Mr. Javier Nart, Member of the European Parliament. It is a co-incidence that local government elections are imminent, as the mandate of the EU EFM extends only to general elections, and the mission is not observing these local elections.
The mission has met a wide range of Guyanese electoral stakeholders, including members of the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the Guyana Elections Commission, National Assembly members, and representatives of political parties and civil society. The mission organised a roundtable meeting of electoral stakeholders, on 23 May, where participants had the opportunity to discuss the current status of electoral reform.
The Chief of Mission, Javier Nart MEP, when opening the round-table meeting, identified the present opportunity for reform:
“It is now mid-way through the electoral cycle leading to elections in 2025. Two years still remain in which electoral reform can be undertaken, particularly procedural and legislative reform. Constitutional reform will be slower, but has been initiated with the enactment of the Constituion Reform Commission Act. It is important that the momentum around legal and constitutional reform be maintained and built upon in the interest of improving future general elections.”
The EU Election Observation Mission in 2020OM 26 recommendations addressing diverse aspects of elections, including the legal framework, election administration, the campaign and campaign finance, the media and social media, and electoral dispute resolution. Implementation of twenty-one of these recommendations would require legal change, while one (related to the composition of GECOM) requires constitutional change. Eight recommendations were identified as priority, which could have the most positive impact on the elections if implemented.
Two of these priority recommendations have been implemented in full, through provisions contained in the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act 2022. Mr. Nart MEP commented on the implementation status of the recommendations:
”It is positive to note that two priority recommendations have been implemented in full. The Act now provides clear written procedures for the tabulation of election results and the new meansures will enhance the transparency of the tabulation process, through robust publication of Statements of Poll. Implementation of the other recommendations offered by the EU EOM, particularly the remaining six priority ones, would greatly enhance the efficacy, transparency and integrity of the electoral process.”
Mr. Nart went on to say that:
“Electoral reform is critically important to rebuild confidence in the integrity of the administration of general elections. The EU Delegation supports continued democracy and good governance in Guyana and wishes to support stakeholders in their efforts to promote such reform.”
The EU Election Follow-up Mission will publish a Final Report, at a later stage, which will offer a detailed analysis of the existing arrangements for elections in Guyana, as well as of the extent to which the EU EOM recommendations have been addressed.
The Final Report of the EU Election Observation Mission 2020 is available at: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/eu_eom_guyana_2020_-_final_report_0.pdf
