The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) yesterday said it is ready for Local Government Elections on December 7, but says all systems must be in place for a transparent and problem-free poll.
Speaking at the party’s weekly press briefing at Freedom House, party General Secretary Clement Rohee said the PPP is ready for the elections whenever it is held. He said while the PPP/C remains ready, it has some reservation with the manner in which the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill 2015 was tabled in the House. The General Secretary told reporters that the 6-day advance notice before the laying of a bill in the National Assembly was not observed.
The Opposition party also expressed some unease with the bill which will be read for a second time, will be piloted through all the stages, and passed at Wednesday’s sitting. Rohee said the PPP/C is also cognisant of certain perils that may impact negatively on the quality, control and preparation of the holding of the elections. According to him, these include, among others, the process vested in the returning officers, vis-a-vis the recounting of votes, which allow the returning officer to be the sole arbiter in dispute that may arise with respect to vote count.
Proxy voting

“Further, the PPP is of the view that proxy voting should be restricted to one instead of two electors. While the legislation will now allow GECOM to extract the Voters List from the National Registrar of Registrants and fix the new date for Claims and Objects from August 24 to September 9, a major challenge likely to surface will be the clearly and well-defined demarcation of boundaries and ensuring that each and every elector are placed correctly and precisely within their respective constituencies and municipalities,” Rohee contended.
The PPP is also calling for the launch of an aggressive and targeted Voter Education campaign for Local Government Elections.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) late last month had made it clear that it cannot proceed to prepare a Preliminary Lists of Voters for the conduct the Claims and Objections for the purpose of finalising the respective Registers of Voters that will be necessary to conduct Local Government Elections in the 65 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and the six Municipalities in Guyana.

GECOM noted that the existing legislation relative to the preparation of the Preliminary List of Voters requires that the lists be prepared from the Official List of Electors that was used for the 1992 General and Regional Elections.  This legislation must be amended to clear the way for the lists to be extracted from the up-to-date National Register of Registrants. “The proposed (draft) amendment, among others, has already been prepared in one document which was discussed and fine-tuned between GECOM’s legal Officer and the Chief Parliamentary Counsel of the Ministry of Legal Affairs,” the Commission said.

Cannot move forward

The entire document will be by GECOM with the view to give the go ahead for the amendments to be taken to Parliament via the Government for approval.  Accordingly, GECOM said it is imperative that it be made abundantly clear that until and unless GECOM is given the legal authority to extract the Preliminary List of Voters, the Commission cannot move forward with its Work Plan for the conduct of Local Government Elections.

Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield had pointed out to Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan that, in addition to the need for the amendments to come into force, he (Minister Bulkan) in his capacity of Minister of Communities is required to issue an Order declaring the Local Authority Areas in which Local Government Elections will be held.

It was also noted that housing communities at the municipalities of Corriverton, Anna Regina and the Bartica Neighbourhood Democratic Council had grown beyond their respective boundaries.  The authority to extend the boundaries of these Local Authority Areas is vested in the Minister of Communities and the Minister was urged that this matter be addressed with alacrity towards ensuring that the concerned citizens are given the opportunity to participate in the elections.

Assurance

Minister Bulkan had given his assurance that his ministry will move immediately after GECOM green-lights the draft amendments to have them approved by Parliament.  He also assured that the Ministry of Communities will be focusing attention towards addressing the publication of the Order declaring the Local Authority Areas in which Local Government Elections will be held, as well as the concerning the boundaries of the municipalities of Corriverton, Anna Regina and the Bartica NDC. Bulkan will tomorrow lay the Local Authorities (Election) (Amendment) Bill 2015 in the House for passage and the holding of Local Government Elections.