Guyana’s Elections: Still Waiting For Results 2 Days After Vote

After they cast their ballot Monday in a highly anticipated election that will decide the future of an oil-rich Guyana, voters are still awaiting the first results of the 2020 general elections.

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Electoral Commission of Guyana’s (GECOM) president Claudette Singh told media the delay is due to various factors such as weather conditions, the geographical location of some populations, among other reasons.

Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield said that after completing the counting of the votes, the authorities will gather all the results to present an official report.

"Gecom has now gone to the back room, there are people in the backroom doing the tabulation process in the absence of any observers and then they are bringing them to the front for the verification process," the Chairman of the  Private Sector Commission Gerry Gouveia told teleSUR, dubbing it a "violation."

The Carter Center observation mission which participated in the election's evaluation stated the event took place normally, despite the record of small irregularities. Chair of the Board of Trustees Jason Carter said that some voting centers are in areas difficult to access for the population. 

"We believe that citizens of remote places should have access to the polling stations, we call for the use of private buildings so that the process can be better implemented," Carter informed.

On the other hand, the Head of the Elections Observer Mission (EOM) from the Organization of the American States (OAS) acknowledged that the manual tabulation system along with Guyana’s geography, infrastructure, and population distribution, create important challenges for the organization of elections and the delivery of results.

"We are very much disappointed with the delay in the results. We expected the electoral machinery, the Gecom to have delivered results by yesterday or today early this morning so we are waiting," Political Activist Gerald Pereira told teleSUR.

Over 600,000 Guyanese were eligible to vote in the 2020 Elections, in which nine political parties are competing in the general elections and 11 in the regional elections. The new 65-member National Assembly will be elected for a five-year term, and the leader of the largest coalition or party becomes the country's president.

Final election results are not expected before Friday, although the commission is allowed 15 days to do so.