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Govt, opposition stakeholders butt heads over proposed amendments to electoral laws
Kaieteur News – The Government and Opposition stakeholders are at loggerheads over the newly proposed amendments to Guyana’s main elections laws.
Following the March 2020 General And Regional Elections fiasco, the PPP/C Government has embarked on a process of amending the Representation of the People Act (RoPA), which is Guyana’s main electoral law. There are also proposed amendments for the National Registration Act, and other components of the electoral law.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, SC.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall SC on Tuesday addressed a national stakeholder consultation where he pointed out inter alia that the proposed amendments would see Regions Three, Four and Six being subdivided to facilitate easier tabulation of votes.
Opposition nominated Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner Vincent Alexander, who attended the event on behalf of the civil group, International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G), raised objection with the suggestion that such a division may better serve Guyana’s large hinterland regions.
Alexander said, “I will argue that if one is speaking about efficiency, then that subdivisions are more pertinent in the hinterland regions, these regions have sub districts that cannot move results overnight. It may in fact, be more efficient if they can have these subdivisions so that the results can be sub produced, instead of waiting on all of them to be produced all at once.”
However, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, who chaired the consultation exercise was keen to note that the votes from the hinterlands regions were counted and presented within 48 hours at the last Regional and General elections in March 2020. The region with issues, she reminded the gathering, was with Region Four- which is the largest electoral district.
The Attorney General also responded to Alexander’s comments, stating that it took nearly six months to tabulate the results in Region Four. He stressed that efficiency is a key reason behind subdividing the Region but efforts are also being made to remove the tabulation and declaration responsibility from just one person. “It is our intention to remove the responsibility from one man, so that the no one person’s declaration can ever hold up the elections again,” Nandlall said.
Opposition nominated, GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander
Further, in response to concerns raised over the amendments of electoral laws preceding the amendments to the constitution, Nandlall said that the Government has promised that the constitutional reform process will address those concerns.
The Attorney General said that all concerns related to the country’s supreme law will be addressed, including desired changes at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), people’s qualifications to vote and how electoral disputes are settled (including which courts have jurisdiction).
Addressing concerns that the ongoing consultations are too narrow, Nandlall pointedly said, “This engagement cannot address those matters.”
He said “… This criticism continues to emanate though we have explained repeatedly from the beginning what its scope (of these consultations) is and what is its limitations.” According to the Minister, the constitutional reform process is expected to begin in early 2023.
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