SEVEN years ago, former House Speaker, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, commented upon the unconstitutional act embedded in the decision to disallow overseas voting.

Ramkarran had urged the Guyana Elections Commission to “devise a system that would allow for the registration of Guyanese living abroad, so that their names could be included in the voters’ list.” The Elections Commission which has the constitutional responsibility of ensuring that elections are lawfully conducted, has a duty and responsibility to ensure that the constitutional provisions are observed by providing Guyanese, wherever they may be, of the opportunity to vote at elections,” Ramkarran had said.

If one is a citizen of Guyana and they decide to permanently move somewhere else, currently, they are not allowed to vote. With many countries allowing overseas voting to their citizens, this practice by Guyana has rightly been a cause for concern and contention. Columnist with the Guyana Chronicle, David Hinds, has also called for the installment of procedures to allow overseas voting.

To understand why overseas voting is considered a contentious issue, one must first understand or at the very least, know of our history. With the rigging of elections during the periods of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham and Cheddi Jagan’s lifetimes, people became rightly skeptical of allowing those Guyanese overseas to vote. With migration forever on the increase, it is important that we do not remain at a standstill when it comes to the era of democracy and free and fair elections.

As it relates to the debate of overseas voting, I am a bit torn on the issue. Given the constitutional right afforded to all Guyanese to vote, I do believe that we should explore the option of allowing those in the diaspora to vote. However, given that our laws do not cater for dual citizenship, if the potential voter has acquired the citizenship of another country, I do not believe they should be included amongst those who should be able to vote in the Guyana elections.

I am also a bit torn on the issue, because given that we have substantially more Guyanese living abroad than in Guyana itself; and given that these Guyanese only ever return for short stints, I do not see why we should have to live with their majority choices.

Then there is the substantial but hardly commented upon aspect of race and politics as they relate to Guyanese and those in the diaspora. There is the perception of the PPP/C being an “Indian” people party and the now APNU+AFC coalition which consists of the PNC and several other parties being seen as a “black” people party. The PPP/C enjoyed over two decades of rule given that their stronghold was and still remains Indians, particularly rural Indians and given that they are in the majority, it never took much to know who would win. The narrow win by the coalition government was due to several reasons.

One, was that there was a general feeling of discontent and tiredness amongst the Guyanese population. Two, the coalition exalted the hopes of the disenfranchised and used it to their advantage. Three, the stronghold the PPP/C enjoyed was and continues to be significantly downsized, given the high level of migration amongst Indians to other countries and islands.

Added to all of this, we do not have the necessary procedures and systems in place to ensure free and fair voting that caters for those in the diaspora. Nothing has been done since 1992 to make the process more transparent. The countries that do allow overseas voting would have already assured that all systems are in place to allow it.

Voting is an intrinsic right with regard to freedom and citizenship. However, when it comes to overseas voting for the Guyanese diaspora, we need to consider the factors that led to them not being able to vote and ensure we have proper systems in place to allow it before we begin a rash process.