FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KINGSTON, Jamaica— Deputy Director of Elections in Jamaica Earl Simpson is currently leading a CARICOM observer mission to Guyana’s May 11 general election. CARICOM says the eight-member team will carry out its functions from May 6 to May 13.

Simpson has been working in electoral administration at the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) for almost two decades and has observed several elections in various jurisdictions.

“Guyana’s electoral system, like Jamaica’s, has come a long way, especially with regard to compiling a voters’ list and carrying out voting procedures on Election Day, so I’m looking forward to seeing their whole system in operation,” Simpson said. He added that, unlike Jamaica, Guyana uses proportional representation, instead of first-past-the-post to award electoral seats.

In proportional representation, the entire country is effectively one constituency and seats in Parliament are awarded based on the percentage of the vote that a party gets. Seven political parties will contest the upcoming election.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) says there are approximately 576,000 electors on the voters’ list, who will vote in 2, 299 polling stations on Election Day.