GECOM would be ready for snap election – Dr Surujbally

By Michael Younge

Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally said that the commission would be in a state of readiness should there be any snap election this year.
Dr Surujbally made the comment during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times at his Kingston office on Wednesday. He said that GECOM would not be caught off guard by any announcement of a possible snap election since its systems, processes, and electoral machinery are always up and functioning to full capacity.
Surujbally, while downplaying speculation about snap elections, did explain that the commission would require some time to get all mechanisms in place before it would be fully prepared to execute any such elections were they to be held this year. “If we were to have a national election in 2012, it would mean several things and we would first have to look to see what stage we are at with the continuous registration cycle,” he explained.

Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally

Dr Surujbally disclosed that given the magnitude of preparations that would have to be undertaken to prepare properly and execute credible snap elections, the long overdue local government elections may have to be sidelined or placed on the back burner, because national elections would “take precedence” over the local elections.
Asked what would be the costs associated with the staging of snap elections so soon after the 2011 multibillion dollar national election, Dr Surujbally said: “I would rather not comment on costs, because I dare say that lots of the costs that were associated with the elections had nothing to do with GECOM and its work.”
He indicated that some funds were spent paying scrutineers and implementing other systems at the request of competing political parties in the last and previous elections, and that came about because of  “a lack of trust”. “There is a lack of trust and we never asked for anyone to be there looking over our shoulders, because I think that our staff is competent enough and should be left to do their work in the fields,” Surujbally opined.
Were there to be snap elections, a new claims and objections period would have to been undertaken. A new series of fingerprint scanning and cross referencing would also be needed. “This alone would take some time,” he asserted. Asked whether the existing Official List of Electors could be used, the GECOM chairman responded in the affirmative, but in the same breath said he would prefer not to.
“I would like to sanitise it some more and take through more verification,” he explained. Dr Surujbally said the registration cycle would be opened to ensure that persons who did not get an opportunity to register and get on the OLE during the last elections would be afforded the opportunity to do so via the commission in the event of a snap election.

Poll declaration
Speaking about the much-criticised time frame involved in declaring results, the GECOM boss said that changes would be made where they are necessary in the interest of efficiency and expediency. He added that he still has not got any formal requests to implement any system that results in electronic voting in the interest of getting elections results to the public faster.
“No one has asked me to do this, in fact the political parties told me that they want quite the opposite,” he reaffirmed.  Throughout the interview, the GECOM Chairman maintained that snap election talk that has been dominating the public corridors is speculation. He added that the work of the commission continues and it is preparing for the possible staging of local government elections.
President Donald Ramotar speaking with Guyana Times during a recent interview stated that he was not considering calling snap elections at this time in the country’s history, though he was severely concerned by the indiscipline and misconduct of the opposition parties in Parliament. He pointed specifically to their breach of parliamentary norms and conventions.
There is significant fear that there may be a hung parliament, or another situation that leads to snap elections.

GECOM may  be  ready, But  where  would the  budget  for  a  snap  election  come  from?