Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has highlighted the critical importance of the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) revised election manuals, describing them as essential tools for avoiding a repeat of the electoral chaos witnessed in 2020.
Speaking at his weekly press conference on Thursday at Freedom House in Georgetown, Dr. Jagdeo, who is also the General Secretary of the PPP, commended the comprehensive nature of the updated documents.
“It’s one of the first times in history that GECOM has had a published manual in such a detailed way, outlining roles and responsibilities of every official—GECOM officials as well as those of the political parties. It sets out almost the entire process for the conduct of elections in a single document,” he said.
According to the Vice President, the revised manuals are part of broader efforts to ensure full transparency in the electoral process and to clearly define the responsibilities of all parties involved.
“This only happened because we changed the Representation of the People’s Act (ROPA) to ensure that there is transparency in these matters, given the experience of 2020,” he stated.
He added, “So now no longer will the CEO have the manual in his head like what happened the last time, and no longer would an RO be able to change the instructions three or four times on election day like Mingo did. Everything is now in that manual,” Jagdeo added.
The amendments to the ROPA were enacted in December 2022 and now require GECOM to produce training manuals well in advance of any elections. These manuals are designed to ensure that both polling day staff and senior officials strictly adhere to the Commission’s guidelines.
In accordance with the new statutory requirements, GECOM has published two manuals on its website: the Official Manual for Returning Officers, Supernumerary Returning Officers, and Other Election Officials, and the Official Manual for Presiding Officers and Other Polling Day Officials.
The manuals were prepared by GECOM’s Secretariat in accordance with legal provisions and were reviewed by Parliamentary Political Parties, who were invited to provide scrutiny and feedback.
Dr. Jagdeo also urged members of the media to actively disseminate the contents of the manuals.
“Get hold of the manual and also propagate it,” he said, stressing the importance of public education on polling day procedures and roles.
The Vice President also stated that these new measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process and prevent a recurrence of the irregularities observed in the 2020 election.
