and Mr. Jernej Videtic

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Matters of mutual interest including the state of preparedness of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the conduct of Local Government Elections were discussed between Dr. Steve Surujbally,GECOM officials meeting with EU Ambassador, JernejVidetic and his team yesterday.Chairman of GECOM, and Mr.  Jernej Videtic, Ambassador/Head of Delegation of the Delegation of the European Union to Guyana.The discussions took place during a courtesy call which the Ambassador/Head of Delegation of the Delegation paid on Dr. Surujbally yesterday.  Ambassador Videtic was accompanied by Mr. Brian Suhhai, Programme officer; Mr. Benedikt Madl, Head of Bilateral Development; and Mr. Derek Lambe, Head of Political Affairs, Press and Information – all of the Delegation of the European Union.Dr. Surujbally highlighted specific areas in which assistance could possibly be provided through the Delegation of the European Union relative to the conduct of Local Government Elections.  The areas include the possible introduction of electronic voting in Guyana, Civic and Voter Education, resuscitation of the GECOM Media Monitoring Unit, and the establishment of a specialized course in elections management at the University of Guyana.In respect to the latter, Dr. Surujbally explained that such a course would be geared to deliver a pool of knowledgeable personnel to which GECOM  would have access when seeking to hire competent persons to work during election projects.Responding to Dr. Surujbally’s identification of the suggested areas, Ambassador Videtic undertook to collaborate with the other members among the International Development Partners to determine how to assist GECOM.He indicated his willingness to be part of a “Diplomatic Watch” Team which could be established to monitor the election processes, including the voting by members of the Disciplined Forces and on Election Day.