GECOM composition not ideal but it works – Commissioner

Jun 08, 2017 News

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By Murtland Haley
Since 1992 six Commissioners on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) have been appointed by the parliamentary political parties and the President acting in his own deliberate judgment; three from each side.

The seventh member, the GECOM Chairperson, is selected from a list of six persons nominated by the Leader of the Opposition from which the President must choose, provided that the list is not unacceptable to him in accordance with Article 161(2) of Guyana’s Constitution.
It had been suggested over 10 years ago that the composition of GECOM should change thereby removing the political appointees. This was reiterated in the Final Report on the 2015 elections by the elections observer body, the Carter Centre.
It is the view of GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, that the current system is not ideal but it is a system that works best in the Guyanese context. Currently, the members of the Commission are Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin, Sandra Jones, Bibi Shadick, Robeson Benn and Sase Gunraj.
Alexander and Corbin were appointed when the People’s National Congress Reform was the opposition party and Jones was appointed while the A Partnership for National Unity was in opposition. The PNC is the largest party within the APNU coalition.
Meanwhile, Shadick, Benn and Gunraj were nominated by the People’s Progressive Party Civic.
Alexander admitted that it is true that the presence of political actors can cause hiccups and bring some partiality to the process. Despite this, Alexander said that one has to be conscious of the Guyana landscape.
“I don’t think that we are the country that necessarily has sufficient people being unbiased. Even if you don’t have parties making nominations, you will still have people who will carry political views into the process. Therefore, the present situation, is not ideal but at least, it addresses the reality in the country of distrust.”
He said that with the six Commissioners being appointed through a political process, the appointment of the Chairperson is of critical importance.
Referring to the current process to appoint a GECOM Chairman, Alexander said, “Now if we have a difficulty selecting one person (Chairperson) who is supposed to be unbiased, you can imagine how much difficulty we would have selecting seven.”
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo submitted two lists to President David Granger. Both have been rejected.
According to Alexander, ideally, reforming the composition of GECOM is a direction which Guyana must move. However, he is contending that the country is not ready for such a step in terms of its political culture.
He said that the confidence in people who are not identified to be political must be measured against the confidence persons have in those have been identified as such. He said that as it is now, the system is more reliable.
“Though you have a political presence, you know what you have; you don’t know what you will get.”
The Commissioner said that evidence has shown that persons who are Commissioners for extended periods eventually become a part of GECOM and as a consequence, tend to lose some degree of their biasness.
“The fact that the PPP/C has removed some of its Commissioners in the past is a reflection of that kind of development, where those Commissioners were becoming more a part of GECOM rather than mainly bringing their political persuasion in GECOM.”
In September 2015, the People’s Progressive Party had nominated two of its members to be Commissioners after two others would have resigned from the Commission. According to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, Mahmood Shaw and Athmaram Mangar had resigned from their positions.
To replace them, the party appointed former Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn and former PPP/C Parliamentarian, Bibi Shaddick.
He said that this move reflected that the former Commissioners were shifting into a different mode whereby they were no longer purely political in their deliberations. He said that Commissioners after being appointed cannot be removed by their parties unless such persons subject themselves to being removed. According to him, as a result, Commissioners have the freedom to take an impartial position on matters.
A 2005 study prepared for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by former Chief Elections Officer of Jamaica, Carl Dundas had concluded that the Carter-Price formula, which governs GECOM appointments has outlived its usefulness.
The Carter-Price formula is the brainchild of former United States of America President, Jimmy Carter and former Prime Minister of Belize, George Price. It was introduced as a consensus measure to ensure Guyana had a multiparty democratic General and Regional election in 1992.
It was suggested that the system be replaced with an independent Electoral Management Body whereby a four-member panel would receive nominations through advertisements from political parties and civil society, according to the report,
The panel will then choose no more than seven names from the list of nominees and submit them to a committee within the National Assembly. Three or five names would then be presented to the National Assembly for approval by a two-thirds majority and those names would be submitted to the President for approval.
The Chairperson and Vice Chairperson will be selected by secret ballot from members of the Commission.

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