Elections date in limbo as GECOM meeting ends abruptly

Jan 25, 2019 News

PPP Commissioner Robeson Benn

A key meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ended abruptly last evening with no consensus on a date for General and Regional Elections.

It will raise questions exactly what the commissioners will tell two parliamentary plenipotentiaries – the two Chief Whips- this afternoon about the readiness of GECOM to hold early elections.

The issue of early elections came about after the December 21^st no-confidence vote which was carried after government parliamentarian, Charrandass Persaud, said yes, toppling the one-seat majority Coalition administration that had only been in power for just over three years.

Under the Constitution, the no-confidence vote meant that elections have to be called within 90 days unless the Government and Opposition can agree for the life of Parliament to be extended.

Persaud had left Guyana and is being investigated in a “matter of national security” and allegations of possible bribe taking.

Government has since challenged the vote in court, insisting that Persaud, who was expelled by his party, the Alliance For Change, had two passports – including one for Canada, and under the laws should not have been a parliamentarian.

The High Court is expected to rule next week on the validity of the vote.

In the meantime, the Government and the Opposition have agreed to both send the Chief Whips to GECOM to find out how ready the entity is for elections in 90 days.

Yesterday, Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, was scheduled to brief the six commissioners and Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson, on the situation, outlining his plan for training, need for money and resources, among other things.

Speaking about the meeting shortly after 8 p.m., Commissioner Robeson Benn, one of three commissioners representing the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which is in Opposition, disclosed that there is no consensus and that his party will now have decide on the way forward.

He said that the morning session ended with some sort of “emerging consensus” which could have seen elections being held by April 29th.

According to Benn, based on the vote, the Constitutional drop dead date to hold elections was by the latest, March 19th or 20th.

Lowenfield was advised that in terms of money for the election, they could use the funds approved by the National Assembly for house-to-house registration..

With regards to training, there were three elections, beginning 2015 using the same voters’ list.

According to Benn, it was suggested that if there were concerns of dead persons and persons who attained voting age, these could be easily fixed, including using information from the General Registrar’s Office and police stations where deaths are recorded.

“We disagreed that there was a need for a house-to-house registration.”

According to Benn, while the meeting broke for lunch with an “emerging consensus”, this all changed after the meeting resumed at 16:30hrs.

“They (Government commissioners) insisted that there is need for the list of voters to be sanitized. That many persons would be disenfranchised. The point is GECOM has now added a life outside that 90-days period.”

According to Benn, the Government side also argued that it will take time to order supplies and other items for the election, using the established tendering process.

“We told them that they can use an expedited process of procurement of supplies; that they had supplies too from the recent elections, but it seems there were other intentions.”

According to Benn, based on the Constitution and the little that was garnered from the briefing of Lowenfield, the PPP as the Opposition strongly believe that elections can be held in as little as 50 days.

The commissioner also disclosed that a meeting will be held with the two Chief Whips, Amna Ally and Gail Teixeira of the Government and Opposition sides, respectively, at 1pm today.

For now, there is no date for what would be one of the most crucial elections in Guyana’s history. In a year, the country will be pumping its first oil.

PPP lost in 2015 because of early elections due to the proroguing of Parliament.

It would have been the first time in 23 years that the PPP had lost control of Government.