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OAS TEAM READY FOR OBSERVATION TASK, ON EVE OF GRENADA GENERAL ELECTION

St. George’s, Grenada: The Organization of American States (OAS) team of election observers is ready to go as Grenadians prepare for Tuesday’s general elections, Assistant Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin declared on the eve of the vote. He also appealed to the people of Grenada to vote peacefully and in an orderly manner.

This Electoral Observation Mission—the third time that the OAS is monitoring elections in Grenada—is the largest ever team of observers that the Organization has sent to a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country. It has been observing the entire process that will culminate in general elections on July 8.

The organization is set to deploy 17 teams on Election Day to cover all the 15 constituencies, including Carriacou and Petit Martinique. The OAS monitors will visit all polling stations once or twice on Election Day. “We will have 100 per cent coverage of the country, and this will give us an opportunity to receive first-hand information from our own observers and on that basis to make pronouncements on how elections went on the 8th of July,” said Ramdin, who is Chief of the OAS’ Electoral Observation Mission in Grenada.

On Election Day, the OAS observers will be present for the opening and closing of polls, the voting itself as well as for the vote count and the transmission of the results. Ramdin expects the logistical and organizational elements of the election to flow smoothly on Tuesday, given the preparation of polling station workers, presiding officers and polling clerks, in addition to the active engagement of the party agents. “Overall, the administrative aspects of voting should be good and acceptable to international standards,” he added, noting that after the polls the hemispheric Organization will make recommendations as to how aspects of the preparation could be improved.

Ramdin described the stakes as very high for the two main political parties in the upcoming vote. Over the past few weeks in particular, the candidates of both sides have been running a very intense campaign—which he called “good for democracy and for the people’s participation in the process of electing a new government.”

The OAS team numbers 37 international election observers, among them students from St. George’s University in Grenada and from the University of the West Indies, as well as volunteers from the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States Embassy in Barbados.

On Monday, Chief of Mission Ramdin met with the UK High Commissioner and with the CARICOM electoral observation team, among others. The OAS Electoral Observation Mission also conducted final preparations that included training and final briefings for its team of international election observers.

Reference: E-264/08