…Opposition fails to defend its November proposition

CHAIRPERSON of the Electionslections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh will, today, advise President David Granger on the timeframe for the next General and Regional Elections.

In making her decision, Justice Singh will take into consideration the March 2020 proposal made by Government-nominated Elections Commissioner Charles Corbin. A similar timeframe was proposed by the Elections Secretariat, and though the Opposition-nominated Election Commissioners are up in arms against elections being held in 2020, they have failed to defend their November 2019 proposition.

In a statement on Wednesday night, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Warde, confirmed that Justice Singh will be communicating GECOM’s decision to the President, based on the submissions made, and consultation with the Secretariat.
It was during the Tuesday, September 17 Statutory Meeting that it was agreed that Commissioners Charles Corbin and Sase Gunraj would submit separate schedules based on the proposals made during the meeting, but, on Wednesday, the Opposition-nominated Commissioners backpedalled on their position, and declined to justify their November timeline for elections.

“At today’s (Wednesday’s) meeting, Commissioner Gunraj did not make the submission as promised. While Commissioners Gunraj, Benn and Shadick insisted on a November 2019 date for the holding of elections, they submitted no complete work plan to assist the Commission to determine how it was possible to arrive at such a date,” Warde explained hours after the meeting came to a close.

It was noted that a comprehensive work plan with timelines and considerations reflecting the discussions held on Tuesday was submitted by Commissioner Corbin.
“Chairperson of the Commission, Justice Claudette Singh undertook to study the submission, consult with the Secretariat, and, based on all the information available to her, make a decision on the way forward. Justice Singh will communicate this decision to the President in accordance with the mandate of the Commission tomorrow (today),” Warde further disclosed.

Outside of the Elections Commission’s High and Cowan Streets, Kingston Office, Commissioner Gunraj offered no justification for his non-action but said the GECOM Chair would deliver her decision today.

“It’s a very simple one this afternoon, the Chairman will render her decision at 10:30 tomorrow morning,” Commissioner Gunraj told reporters as he exited GECOM’s compound. Commissioner Bibi Shadick offered no comment on the meeting, though pressed for answers from the media.

Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander, however, was more vocal on the situation. He too confirmed that Justice Singh would make her decision today.
“The chairman said she will make a determination and announce it by tomorrow (Thursday). That came after the Commissioners nominated by the Leader of the Opposition failed to make a proposal as agreed to yesterday. On the other hand, Commissioner Corbin made a written proposal,” Commissioner Alexander told reporters, moments after the meeting ended.

With no written proposal in hand, the Opposition- nominated Commissioners – Bibi Shadick, Sase Gunraj and Robeson Benn – without any justification demanded that elections should be held by November, 2019.

“All they contended is that elections should be held by November and they were not prepared to discuss anything else,” Commissioner Alexander said.
He noted that the proposal made by Commissioner Corbin presents a March 2020 timeframe. Although he endorses the proposal, he felt that the timeline can possibly be condensed to an earlier time.

“The presentation is in the form of Microsoft project, so you see the critical path and you see the non-critical path; and in fact, it is not out of the top of the head that you arrive at a date because when you plug in the timelines in that programme, the programme generates a date,” Commissioner Alexander explained as he alluded to the proposal made by Commissioner Corbin.

He said in that proposal, the encoding of data garnered from the just concluded House-to-House Registration has been taken off the critical path, thereby allowing for the Secretariat to proceed with the production of the preliminary list, and the conduct of Claims and Objections even as the encoding continues. “So the information encoded would then become a comparator later in the process but will not be holding up the process,” he posited. Approximately 200,000 of the more than 370,000 names have been encoded.
It was disclosed, too, that in that proposal, the Claims and Objections period was set for 21 plus seven days. “This is what in fact was proposed by the secretariat as well,” Commissioner Alexander added. When it comes to the delivery of the ballot papers, he noted that to fast track this by merely two days would cost the Commission an additional US$250,000 or some GUY$52,165,000.

Though not wanting to preempt the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Alexander said he believes that she will give due consideration to the proposal before her. “Her concern all along has been the question of the timeframes, the various elements and how we can curtail those timeframes to get the earliest possible time. I think that has been her major concern all along,” he posited.

In the interim, the Secretariat has been actively training polling day staff countrywide. Thus far, training of polling day staff has been completed in several regions. In South Georgetown at 20 locations, 1,185 participants have been trained; on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) at 20 locations 1,201 were trained; on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) and in Region Five at 21 locations, 1,596 were trained; in Region Six at 25 locations 1,940 were trained and at 25 locations between Regions One, Two and 10, 2,030 were trained. The commission must now conduct training in the hinterland and in other parts of Georgetown with all training expected to be completed by October.
Last week, an electoral expert told the Guyana Chronicle that the elections commission must comply with the statutory guidelines outlined in the Representation of People Act, and warned that to do the contrary would be to breach the Constitution and the Laws of Guyana. It was explained that the Elections Commission, as advised by the secretariat, must act in conformity with the Constitution of Guyana, the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act of 2000 and Representation of the People Act.

The electoral expert made it clear that neither Justice Singh nor her commission can set a timeframe for elections independent of the secretariat, and in total defiance of the Constitution and the Representation of People Act which have set out clear guidelines.
There are approximately 35 statutory guidelines by which the elections commission must abide, as outlined in the Representation of the People Act. According to Section Nine of the Representation of the People Act, the Notice of the date for submission of the list of Candidates (Nominations Day) cannot be done later than 32 days before elections.

Additionally, the act states that candidates must be informed of defects in the list of candidates not later than 30 days before the elections and by the 29th day before the election is held, corrections must be submitted. Those are just three of the 35 statutory guidelines established under the act.