Commissioners concerned over statements on GECOM’s readiness for Local Gov’t Elections

IN a statement issued yesterday by Commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) the Commissioners expressed their concern over statements recently made on the entity’s state of readiness to hold Local Government Elections. 

The Commissioners stated that they viewed “with immense concern, the calls for Local Government Elections and the declarations that GECOM is ready. We urge that these calls and declarations be treated with extreme caution.”
The statement was signed by three GECOM Commissioners, Mohamood Shaw, Keshav Mangal and Athmaram Mangar.
The Commissioners added that they will continue to work with the Chairman, fellow Commissioners and GECOM’s Secretariat to address issues of concern.
Some of the issues include the fact that some constituency boundaries cut across established divisions and sub-divisions requiring field operations to effectively allocate existing registrants on the National Register of Registrants to a unique constituency. They added that some constituencies do not have adequate registrants to effectively field adequate lists of candidates.
Additionally, the analysis of the National Register of Registrants and subsequent printing of lists for Local Government Elections require operations that involve the Information Technology Division which is without key top level and appropriate staff.
Further, “There are also some key legislative issues including lacunae in Laws that govern Local Government Elections,” the Commissioners stated.
The statement added that there needs to be a vigorous education programme to inform and educate the populace on the new local government elections system, which comprises a mixture of the Constituency and Proportional Representation models, in which political parties, as well as individuals and interested groups may contest the elections.
The Commissioners pointed out too, that the process to compile and analyse 585 sets of nomination lists resulting in the same amount of vetted two part ballot templates and subsequent printing of ballots will require significant time, effort and resources.
The Commissioners concluded that not addressing these issues could lead to disfranchisement. (GINA)

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