OAS welcomes opportunity to monitor Bahamas general election

Fri, Jan 20th 2012, 08:38 AM

A day after Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham invited international organizations to monitor the upcoming general election, the director of the Organization of American States (OAS) said he welcomes the opportunity.
"We never reject any request because we think it's very positive - the possibility to observe all of the countries in our hemisphere," said Pablo Gutierrez, director of the OAS' Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation.
Gutierrez spoke to The Nassau Guardian yesterday via telephone.
The benefits of a visit by an electoral observation mission to The Bahamas, said Gutierrez, include improved election procedures, infrastructure and technical procedures.
"We have a lot of experience in the different countries, for example, countries that have electronic voting or electric transmission systems with scanners, or other kinds of machines," he said.
"I think with the possibility to observe, we can make recommendations to the country, and of course recommendations are the best way, I think, to improve the electoral process in The Bahamas."
Explaining the process, Gutierrez said the OAS has a "special process in its rules".
After a request from a nation's foreign affairs ministry is received, that request then goes to the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation, and then an answer to the request is given.
Electoral observation missions are impacted by many issues, he said, for example, the type of election, the number of polling stations and the geography of the country.
In the case of the Caribbean, the OAS would usually deploy staff (around 15-20), a day before the election starts and they work after the election until the results are given, he said.
"In the case of, for example Grenada or Guyana in their last elections, we deployed like 25 to 30 observers," he said.
According to Gutierrez, there are typically two stages in an observation, the first being a preliminary mission, and the second being the deployment of the OAS' specialists, coordinators and observers to the country.
The preliminary mission involves a visit of the chief of the mission (observation) to the country.  A meeting is held with the prime minister, the candidates, the leaders of the political parties, the media and civil society, said Gutierrez.
"I think that [if] the prime minister gave us this opportunity, [it would] be very important because I know that [it would be] the first time we had the opportunity [to observe Bahamian elections]," he said.
On Wednesday, Ingraham told reporters in Grand Bahama that he welcomes any organization that wants to monitor the upcoming general election.
"They can let us know and we will facilitate them and accommodate them, whether it's the OAS, the United States of America, the UN (United Nations), whoever monitors elections in the world.  If they want to come to The Bahamas to see how an election is done, they can come," Ingraham said.
"We are going to have an open, fair and transparent process and so we are taking time to ensure the election procedures and things that need to be done, are done, prior to calling an election," he added.

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