News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Sept. 2, 2011: Guyana’s general election has yet to be called but the Organization of American States has announced it will be observing it.
Elections in Guyana are constitutionally due before the end of this year and on Thursday, the OAS and the Government of the Republic of Guyana signed an Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the Electoral Observation Mission for the general and regional elections there.
In a ceremony held at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., Secretary General José Miguel Insulza and the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the OAS, Ambassador Bayney R. Karran, signed the document, while at the same time expressing their wishes for the elections in the Caribbean nation to take place in an environment of normalcy and transparency.
“I hope that all this international activity will now be accompanied by a very good cooperation in matters that are really of concern for the Guyanese democracy,” Insulza said. “Your country has a solid democratic vocation and a clear will from its authorities to carry out an election that is transparent and satisfactory for everybody.”
The announcement comes amidst claims by leaked U.S. cables on Wikileaks that Guyana is seen by many, as essentially a narco-state. The leaked cables also revealed that it was not until there politicians of the PPP/C felt that their own lives were threatened or that they might have lost control over the drug lords did they appear concerned.
A Partnership for National Unity, A.P.N.U, has condemned the ruling Peoples Progressive Party/Civic, (PPP/C) administration for creating the conditions which have resulted in this legacy of shame.
