NASSAU, Bahamas, (CMC) – The chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the recently concluded general election, has commended the country for the peaceful and orderly manner in which they exercised their right to vote on May 3 in the advanced polls and on election day on May 10.

Issuing the Group’s interim statement, the chair of the group, Hannah Tetteh said the overall conclusion was that the election was peaceful and credible and the will of the people was decisively expressed with a high voter turnout.In the Group’s statement, issued on Friday, she praised the conduct of members of the police force.“We were impressed with the high level of technological preparedness and the manner in which they had considered every single aspect of the electoral process that could be supported by the police. It is a model of best practice that ought to be recommended across the Commonwealth.”Tetteh also drew attention to the visibly high number of women electoral workers and commended the spirit of young people during the campaign as well as the number of young candidates participating.In conclusion, the Group strongly recommended the establishment of an independent election management body with a modern voting and counting system.The Observer Group arrived here on May 3, was preceded by an advance team, which arrived in the country on April 27.The full report that was completed by the team before the group left on Friday, will be made public at a later date.