– Commission holds different position

PEOPLE’S Progressive Party (PPP) General-Secretary, Clement Rohee yesterday stated that the party is not confident in the readiness of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to hold local government elections.Rohee, at the party’s weekly press briefing, at Freedom House, noted that this contention is based on the fact that every eligible voter will not be correctly placed on his/her constituency list.
He said, “GECOM has made claim that enough ground work and consultations were done to ascertain boundaries countrywide, declaring publicly that there are 585 constituencies.
“It is therefore expected that we should have 585 lists of electors in order to hold local government elections in the 71 local authority areas (LAAS).
“The PPP is not confident that this has been done thoroughly so as to ensure that every eligible voter will be correctly placed on his/her constituency list.”

PHYSICAL VERIFICATIONS
According to him, GECOM should do physical verifications within the communities and invite the political party’s representatives to ensure that everyone is placed on their respective list, allowing for a fair and transparent process whenever elections are called.
“(This is) something the PPP believes every Guyanese wants and should be respected by GECOM,” he said.
Rohee added that with the end of the sixth cycle of continuous registration, which ended on June 21, the claims and objections period is scheduled to begin in August – at which time the party’s concerns with the appropriate placement of voters will be addressed.
Therefore, he said, “There is no possibility of local government elections being held by the due date of August 1, as is stipulated in the bill amended and passed by the one-seat majority in the National Assembly.
“Certainly all Guyanese, except for the few misguided ones in the opposition and some in the diplomatic community, clearly support the non-assent to such a bill by his Excellency (President Donald Ramotar), which will clearly offend the constitution of our country.”
The General-Secretary also called for the Elections Commission to make a public declaration of what he termed the “sensitive” matter of its Constitutional mandate to ensure that everyone eligible is placed on the official list of electors (OLE), in the interest of ensuring that no one will be disenfranchised.
Rohee also declined to commit to a timeline for the calling of local government elections, stating that timelines are “political” and the Elections Commission ought not be restrained by this as it improves its readiness.
He stated too that the party’s concerns have been communicated to GECOM and the PPP is following up the responses to those concerns.

GECOM DIFFERS
Following the expression of the PPP’s position, the Guyana Chronicle was told by a GECOM source that as far as the Commission is concerned, there is no problem, nor is one envisaged, over the placement of eligible voters on the relative lists at the constituency level.
The official added that GECOM has been fulfilling its mandate towards ensuring that no voter is disenfranchised, via the continuous provision of opportunities for eligible persons to apply for registration throughout Guyana.
The Guyana Chronicle was told that the recently-concluded continuous registration cycle was publicised through the daily newspapers, TV advertisements, radio messages and even messages through schools and at grass root levels about the exercise. The Commission went the further mile to also dispatch mobile units to densely populated coastland areas to make the registration process more accessible during the sixth continuous registration cycle.
“Any list for an elections, general or local government, will be prepared from the national register of registrants, i.e. the people listed therein, who meet the criteria to be electors for the elections in question.

CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS
Further, the Claims and Objections exercise which precedes any elections provide the opportunity for any inaccuracies to be corrected, since it involves the publication of a preliminary list of electors for public scrutiny and legally stipulated actions before the Official List of Electors is finalised,” the source said.
GECOM has repeatedly stated that it has a work-plan to facilitate the holding of local government elections within a timeframe of six months, should local government elections be called. The source said that GECOM stands by this position.
The 2014 Budget catered for a $3.3B allocation for the work of the Guyana Elections Commission. Of the allocations, $1.7B is set aside for the Commission and $1.6B for elections administration. Both sums cater to employment costs of 337 employees and other costs, while $126.7M is earmarked for the provision of buildings, a trestle, vehicles, boats, engines, office furniture and equipment. The allocation is intended to allow GECOM to exercise general direction and supervision over the registration of electors and the administrative conduct of all elections of members of the National Assembly, the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) and local authorities in Guyana.

(By Vanessa Narine )