Interesting electoral reform suggestions

Jan 04, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
I have a few suggestions with regards to needed electoral reforms:
1. Integrate LGEs with National/Regional Elections.
To be fair to the past administrations, and assuming that there were genuine desires and intentions of having LGEs, we need to examine what prevented the holding of such elections when due. One of the perpetual problems we have as a poor country is that of finding the money to finance separate local government, and regional/national elections. Another closely linked problem is that of logistics.
We are a country with a fairly dispersed population in the rural and remote areas. For this reason, we have had 65 neighbourhood councils and 76 Amerindian village councils administering the affairs of these communities. Mobilisation and conducting separate elections with this kind of arrangement can pull a lot of resources.
I suggest we work to integrate LGEs with the national / regional elections so that the overall costs and logistical difficulties are reduced significantly.
2. Consolidate Constituencies and LG Councils.
The number of LGOs we have to work with is huge. We may not be able to reduce the number of Amerindian village councils, because of their villages’ remoteness, but certainly in the coastal and riverain areas we should attempt some amount of consolidation of constituencies and their NDCs, to bring the number down to a maximum of 40 constituencies/NDCs, corporatizing them as has been done in Trinidad and elsewhere.
The boundaries of existing NDCs should be redrawn to reflect changes in the population relative to the geographic area (a balance between population and area size). Improvements in transport and telecommunications infrastructure have made it possible to effectively govern larger areas, so this should not be a big problem in the future. This approach will also reduce overhead costs, allow for better resource utilization and in some ways improve cohesiveness.
3. Review the Mix of Constituency-Based and Proportional Representation Systems
The most effective demonstration of democracy is to have a constituency-based electoral and administrative system, where elected representatives are persons from the constituency who the local electorate know and can relate to.
This approach would also reduce the likelihood of party “bosses” foisting their friends and relatives on the electorate, but rather allow for the ordinary villagers to select their leaders and groom them for progression in the political field.
I suggest we retain the 65-seat parliament but revisit how parliamentary representatives are elected. Each party can submit up to 15 names of persons on their national list to represent the executive branch of the government – Prime Minister and other Ministers.
The other 50 will come from the constituencies, with 10 of these being the elected regional chairpersons (whose future roles can become more like those of provincial governors’). This will still allow for constituency-based MPs to be made ministers if the need arises, only that they have to work harder.
Contesting parties “field” lists of constituency/NDC candidates and run “primaries” to determine who will represent the party at the constituency level, with eligible persons being nominated by residents.
This means that elections at the local level ensure parliamentary representation, and influence the final composition of parliament. It also means that the responsibility for “primaries” are transferred to contesting parties, with some amount of logistical support provided by the Elections Commission. This again tests the seriousness and capacity of political parties to “walk the talk”.
In the elections, the person with the highest number of votes at the constituency level goes to parliament while the first runner-up becomes the chairperson, and second runner-up becomes the vice chairperson, and so forth.
This approach means that an individual must work hard to win his/her support and eventual position. It also means that a lot more effort has to be put into voter education.
These and other suggested reforms must be thoroughly discussed with stakeholders, right down to the village level, and with the principal objectives being to encourage greater involvement at the local government level; having familiar and accessible parliamentary representatives; and to reduce the cost and tension associated with our normally contentious elections.
Khemraj Tulsie

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