THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS DEPENDENT ON THE DUTY TO BE REGISTERED AS AN ELECTOR

Feb 12, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Is there a right of every citizen of Guyana to vote? Is this right provided for under the Constitution?
And does this mean that someone who resides outside of Guyana and who is unable to cast a ballot where he or she resides can have the election annulled on the basis that this person’s constitutional right to vote has been violated or not respected?
This column seeks to examine these questions.
Firstly, is there a right to vote and is this a right provided for in the Constitution? We must be very careful when we speak of constitutional rights since the average layman associates constitutional rights with fundamental rights.
On the other hand, there are” rights” which we can say are provided for by the constitution which are not fundamental rights.
Under the Constitution of Guyana there is no fundamental right to vote. The constitution however provides at Article 59: Subject to the provisions of Article 159 (meaning the provisions of article 59 must be read in conjunction with article 159), every person may vote at an election if he or she is of the age of eighteen years or upwards and is either a citizen of Guyana or a Commonwealth citizen domiciled and resident in Guyana.
However this provision is conditioned by Article 159 which provides that no person shall vote unless he or she is registered as an elector. Thus while we may say there is a right of every Guyanese eighteen years or older to vote, there is equally a requirement of the Constitution itself, and not just of any law, that the person must be registered.
Thus as was held in a case in South Africa in 1999 the registration of voters is also a constitutional requirement of the right to vote and not a limitation of that right.
Article 159 goes on to deny eligibility to register as an elector to persons certified as insane or deemed by any law of unsound mind, and also persons who have been guilty within a specified time frame of election offences.
Thus Article 59 read in conjunction with Article 159 can in respect to Guyanese citizens be interpreted as follows:
All Guyanese 18 years and over may vote at an election, but in order to vote the person must be registered as an elector.
The election laws of Guyana provide that in order to be an elector, an eligible person must be registered.
Thus if there is some Guyanese living overseas who wishes to vote at an election in pursuance of his or her “ right” which is said to be created by Article 59, that person must equally satisfy the eligibility of Article 159 and become registered.
The Constitution makes no compunction nor creates no implied compunction for the Guyana Elections Commission or the National Registration authorities to register overseas- based Guyanese. Neither does it any longer make provisions for overseas voting. The PPP’s lobby put an end to that a long time ago.
The question is whether the failure of deficiencies of the law to provide for overseas registration and voting constitute a violation of Article 59. It does not.
Article 59 has to be read in conjunction with Article 159 which creates an eligibility requirement for voting; that is, the person must be an elector, and the election laws provide that a person must first be registered before one can become eligible to be an elector.
There is therefore no conflict between our election laws and the constitution. And thus it is hardly likely – even though one must be cautious in making such pronouncements – that any non-resident Guyanese can successfully challenge the outcome of an election on the basis that he or she was not allowed to vote overseas.
While the Constitution provides that an adult Guyanese may vote, it also prescribes that the person must be an elector; and it is the election and registration laws which determine that an elector must be registered and placed on the voters’ list.
The right to vote is dependent on the duty to be registered as an elector.

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THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS DEPENDENT ON THE DUTY TO BE REGISTERED AS AN ELECTOR

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