Mr. Chairman, Secretary General, Distinguished Permanent Representatives and Permanent Observers, Distinguished delegates, Colleagues,

As we have heard from Ambassador Karran, on July 21st, President Bharrat Jagdeo set polling day for Guyana’s general and regional elections for Monday, August 28th in a televised Address to the Nation. President Jagdeo’s announcement followed consultations with the Guyana Elections Commission, which confirmed to the President that it was in a position to produce the Official List of Electors and was also prepared to conduct the Elections as mandated by the Constitution.

I take this opportunity to brief the Permanent Council on the work undertaken by the General Secretariat to establish an electoral observation mission in Guyana, as requested by the Guyanese authorities, and to follow the various stages of the electoral process currently unfolding in that country.

In the course of 2005, the Government of Guyana requested that the OAS General Secretariat send an electoral observation mission to observe the general and regional elections which were constitutionally mandated to be held this year.

The Government further requested that the OAS consider not only a short-term presence, but also the installation of long-term observers who could follow key aspects of the process such as those related to the production and verification of the voter’s list and overall electoral preparations.

As requested by the authorities, the Secretariat began its preparations for the mission earlier this year, and established the long-term component of the mission in late May. The Mission’s on-going presence is comprised of two observers with substantial experience in electoral and related issues, who have been meeting on a continuous basis with electoral authorities at all levels, political party members and civil society representatives, to assess the electoral preparations, the development of the political campaign and the overall security situation.

In particular, the long-term observer team has been able to accompany the claims and objections period for the list of electors, the preparation of the revised and official voter’s list, as well as national ID card distribution.

In addition, I have visited Guyana on various occasions to encourage the process of electoral preparation and the engagement of the parties, and to express the OAS’s support for the holding of free and fair elections in a climate of peace and security. I have presented verbal reports to this Council following most of these visits.

According to the OAS long-term observers, arrangements for the holding of elections have been proceeding apace, with the publication of the 2006 Official List of Electors, the procurement of electoral materials, the holding of Nomination Day on July 26th from which 10 parties emerged (6 to contest the general and regional elections, and 4 to contest only the regional elections), fielding candidates for the elections, the completion of the identification and furnishing of polling stations (1990 in total) throughout the country, the completion of most of the recruitment and training of polling day staff (12.000 in total), and the preparation of a public information campaign. The contesting political parties will face an electorate of 492.369 voters.

National identification card distribution continues and, according to the Elections Commission, will proceed up to and including election-day, in order to provide potential voters with every opportunity to receive their card and vote on polling day.

Government authorities have also pledged to provide adequate security on election-day in order to ensure a peaceful and orderly electoral climate.

The OAS Secretariat, through the Department for the Promotion of Democracy of the Secretariat for Political Affairs, continues to advance in preparations for the short-term component of the Mission, which will consist of complementing the presence of the two long-term observers by mid-August with several additional experts, to complete the Mission’s “core group of experts”, and the fielding of approximately 60 election observers throughout the country for a week, preceding and immediately following polling day.

Additional observers will also be sought for polling day among members of the diplomatic community resident in Georgetown. The Mission is also in discussions with other international organizations that are conducting observer missions in Guyana, as well as with national observation efforts, in order to ensure coordination and adequate coverage of polling sites on election-day. Beside the OAS, the elections in Guyana will be observed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, IFES, CARICOM, the Carter Centre, and possibly members of the European Parliament. Local observers approved by GECOM include the Elections Assistance Bureau, the Public Service Union and the Guyana Bar Association.

The General Secretariat takes this opportunity to thank the Governments of Brazil, Canada, Chile, and the United States for their important contributions to the funding of the activities of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Guyana, to date, and the pledges of support from the Governments of Mexico and Japan.

In order to field the short-term observer component of the Mission in a timely fashion, we will again require the generous support of Permanent Member and Observer countries, and other interested parties.
In closing, I would like to commend the Guyanese electoral authorities for their diligent work in advancing electoral preparations to meet the constitutional deadline for elections this year, in spite of various challenges and difficulties along the way, and reassure the Guyanese authorities and people of the OAS’s continuing commitment to accompany this critical democratic exercise in their country.