THE leader of Guyana’s main Opposition party, Mr. David Granger, made a strange claim on Friday when he rejected the “independence” of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Analysis by Rickey Singh
This followed GECOM’s announcement the previous day that it would be embarking on a new cycle of registration—the seventh such procedure-from December 1-amid heightened speculations of likely new general elections by mid-2015.
Constitutionally, a fresh national poll for the 65-member National Assembly is not due before November 2016. At the last general election in November 2011, the incumbent People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was returned to Government for a fifth consecutive term but with the combined coalition Opposition securing a one-seat majority with 33 to its 32 representatives.
Granger, who heads the People’s National Congress Reform(PNCR) and is chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)—that includes the Working People’s Alliance (WPA—had functioned as Opposition Leader in the 10th Parliament which was prorogued (suspended) by President Donald Ramotar on November 17.

Prorogation, the President contends, was his preference to dissolving the 10th Parliament with a view to engaging in expanded consultations with the Opposition parties and civil society to overcome gridlock politics in the National Assembly.
The combined Opposition of APNU and the minority Alliance For Change (AFC), rejected the President’s rationale for prorogation and declared lack of interest in dialogue outside of resumption of parliamentary sessions.

Verbal Squabbles
Amid the recurring verbal squabbles between the Government and Opposition over the suspension of Parliament, came GECOM’s announcement last week of its decision to begin its seventh cycle of registration of voters ahead of final arrangements for new parliamentary elections.
For Granger this move by GECOM smacked of partisanship in favour of President Ramotar’s administration and his PPP. Seemingly this assumption is based on a much earlier statement from the ruling PPP urging the Commission to undertake a required seventh registration before finalising the new list of voters.
However, no evidence was advanced in support of Granger’s contention of the Commission genuflecting to Government’s influence for the seventh registration cycle. At the time of writing yesterday, no response statement from GECOM was available. It would be surprising if one is not expected from its chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally, who is normally quite forthcoming in defence of the Commission.

GEGECOM’s chairman
It is not unusual for both the Governing and Opposition parties to offer criticisms of GECOM on varying issues. But the seven-member commission on which the Governing and Opposition parties are equally represented under the chairmanship of Dr. Surujbally, have been constant in defence of its independence and integrity.
Now Granger, the PNCR leader and APNU chairman, suspects that political mischief is afoot with GECOM—on which the Opposition has equal representation with the governing party—moving for a hitherto expected new registration cycle to facilitate compilation of a new Official List of Electors (OLE).
Instead, he wants GECOM to proceed with the prevailing ‘Official List of Electors’ (OLE) in preparation for new elections. Now, it should come as no surprise if the minority Alliance For Change (AFC) also echoes that of Granger’s.
Even, that is, as both parties continue to reveal cracks in ongoing efforts for a pre-election coalition ahead of forthcoming new general elections—most likely before mid -2015.

*(Rickey Singh is a noted Barbados-based Caribbean journalist).