RIGHT TO VOTE vs INFORMED CONSENT

Jul 15, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The call for Local Government Elections is just that: a call for elections. It has nothing to do democracy or a need to revive the health of local authorities.
You cannot speak about local democracy if the people are not adequately informed about the system under which they will be voting. How many of those who are plugging for local government elections, actually understand the new system that is going to be used.
And when is GECOM going to launch its public education programme to edify the public about the new system so that when the people go to the polls they will be making an informed choice.
GECOM cannot afford to delegate this responsibility to the government. It is GECOM’s responsibility to do so. If there is no funding to do so, then GECOM should state so.
You cannot speak about local democracy if the people not only lack an understanding of the system of Local Government Elections but also if this system has been foisted upon them without consultation. The electoral system that will guide the new local government elections is a blend of both plurality and constituency systems. Very few Guyanese alive have had any experience with the former.
Since 1964, all of our elections have been heavily predicated on proportional representation. We are now injecting an element of plurality into the system. There will be no trial run. Can you imagine the confusion that this is likely to be caused without a detailed public education programme and without the people giving their consent to this system which was developed by their elected representatives?
Can we speak about democracy when there are still unsettled issues? Some people have been calling for the election of Executive Mayors. Others have said that the Mayors should not be appointed by the Councilors but should be elected directly by the people.
Indeed one of the civil society groupings in the forefront of the demand for local government elections in Guyana wants there to be an Executive Mayor and for the Mayor to be elected directly by the people. This shows the disconnection between what people think should exist and what the system will allow.
But I suppose once the people vote, regardless of whether they agree with the system under which they are voting or the way the spoils are distributed or the ways in which their elected local government officials are appointed, we can say that we have democracy. In other words, what is being suggested is that the right to vote is more important than informed consent.
Once the right to vote exists, the argument can be extended, who gives a heck about whether the mechanics to facilitate the holding of elections is in place. This column did a piece a few weeks ago in which I asked certain questions about boundaries for the Eccles- Ramsburg area. I noted that these boundaries were set before the establishment of a new housing scheme which is likely to be bigger than the rest of the area concerned.
So what are we to assume that even if the boundaries are adjusted that the seat allocation for this part of the NDC would be the same as for the rest of the NDC? That surely cannot be fair. Seats have to be allocated based on a number of factors: geographical features as well as population. There are other areas where we are told that there are problems with boundaries.
There is also the issue where traditionally, Georgetown has been divided into a number of wards. But under the new system five wards in Georgetown will be contesting for one seat.
These problems of boundaries and constituencies are not insurmountable. They can be remedied. They need to be remedied because people will end up being shell-shocked and annoyed when they are told that their elected representative lives in another ward far removed from where they live.
This defeats the very purpose of introducing a plurality model into our local government elections since instead of their representatives being closer to the people, he or she may be totally unknown to them.
What is needed is for a civilized discourse on the likely problems that holding local government elections will pose. There are real concerns as to what can happen if there is no informed consent by the people. In other words, holding local government elections without a public education programme, without settling issues about boundaries and without a decision as to whether the Mayors will be Executive Mayors or appointed directly by the people, will lead to chaos.

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RIGHT TO VOTE vs INFORMED CONSENT

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