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Local Govt. Elections… Opposition in the dark over new local authority boundaries …questions lack of consultation
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo
With nomination day for Local Government Elections (LGE) set for next month, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is claiming that there is a lack of information from the Guyana Elections Commission over the new local authority boundaries.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said that the party met with the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield on Monday to get clarity on the new areas ahead of the LGE which is set for November 12th.
“Local Government Elections has been announced already. Nomination Day is the 21st of September and we find it unacceptable that until now we don’t have precise boundaries in many of these areas and no process of consultation which we believe in a basic tenet of good governance has been embarked upon,” Jagdeo declared on Thursday.
At the 2016 LGE, there were 71 Local authority areas which comprised six Municipalities and 65 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs). Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan has communicated to GECOM that Government has undertaken to increase the areas to 80.
Jagdeo expressed surprise at plans to merge two large constituencies in the Bush Lot area, rather than merging smaller ones to reduce the number of constituencies.
He stated that the party is being told that there is no requirement to consult at the level of GECOM; hence, the election body is moving ahead with some changes that may see the merger of several large constituencies in areas that are controlled by the PPP.
“They are merging the largest ones, because those are controlled by the People’s Progressive Party,so it is clear gerrymandering,” he stated.
The Opposition Leader noted that while the Government boasts about the practice ‘bottom up approach’, the expansion of the local authority areas is contrary to the commitment.
“It is Bulkan, who with the approval of his Cabinet, unilaterally decided that they were going to establish several new Local Government bodies, without consulting with anyone on the ground; without consulting with any of the political parties in parliament,” Jagdeo stated.
Former Attorney General and PPP MP, Anil Nandlall, has suggested that the decision by the Government could be challenged in the court.
According to Nandlall, ‘the new electoral creatures are violating the Amerindian Act.’
Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield
“The Amerindian Act establishes its own systems of governance. There is a village council, there is a method by which elections are held and there are a host of internal mechanisms by which those communities are governed. Areas identified for the creation of new local authority organs are within those Amerindian communities,” Nandlall stated.
Some of the more contentious areas relate to Region Nine, specifically the communities of Annai, Yakarinta, and other surrounding villages.
Despite the opposition concerns, GECOM is full steam ahead with preparations for LGE. There have been newspaper advertisements for Temporary Field Officers, including Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks, and Information Clerks. The Commission has also advertised for political parties and persons desirous of contesting the LGE to submit their symbol for approval before Nomination Day.
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