POLITICAL parties, voluntary groups and individuals will today submit their Lists of Representatives for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) to their respective Returning Officers (RO) in their specific Local Authority Area. The activities relative to Nomination Day will not be held at one specific location as is customary for National Elections.

With elections 50 days away, political parties, voluntary groups and individuals must submit an original and copy of a List of Candidates to the RO by the representative or deputy representative or nominee of the list or by two named persons as candidates on the said list at the RO’s office as gazetted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
After receiving the List of Candidates, the RO will ensure that the copy of each list is posted outside of his office for inspection.
LGE will be held in nine Municipalities and 62 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) throughout the country using a hybrid system of Proportional Representation and First Past-the-Post.
Fifty per cent of the number of Councillors of each Local Authority Area will be elected through Proportional Representation while, the other 50 per cent will be elected through First-Past-the-Post method. The aforementioned system allows voluntary groups, political parties and individual candidates to contest for seats in the NDCs and municipalities.
It should be noted that only voluntary groups and political parties can contest in the Proportional Representation aspect of Local Government Elections.
Voluntary groups and political parties can also contest any or all of the seats under the constituency component of the elections. The candidate(s) must be living in the constituency being contested.
Under the First-Past-The-Post Component, an individual candidate can contest for only one seat in a single constituency in which he or she is registered and resides.
GECOM’s Deputy Chief Elections Officer Vishnu Persaud told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday that as gazetted, the offices of RO across the 71 Local Authority Area will open at 10:00h and is scheduled to close at 14:00h.
However, GECOM will be lenient with those persons who were unable to submit their Lists of Candidates before the allotted time.
“The voluntary groups, political parties or individuals that come first will be treated first but if after 2pm persons are still there, we will not turn them away.”
Mr Persaud explained that after the lists are received by the ROs; they have to be examined after which the representatives or deputy representatives will be alerted of the defects.
This will be done on Wednesday. It is the representatives’ responsibility to return the corrected lists of candidates to the ROs by Friday after which the Lists of Candidates are to be approved no later than Sunday, January 31.
WILL BE INFORMED
All representatives or deputy representatives will be informed by GECOM of the approval or disapproval of their lists on the said Sunday.
“When the lists are received, they have to be checked to determine the accuracy and compliance with the requirements,” he told Guyana Chronicle from his Kingston Office.
The Deputy Chief Elections Officer noted too that those Lists of Candidates that have been disapproved due to defects can be reviewed through an appeal process. Appeals against the refusal to approve the Lists of Candidates will be heard on February 1.
Representatives or deputies can appeal 45 days before LGE to a Magistrate of the Magisterial District after which that Magistrate may after examining the facts before him dismiss the appeal, approve the list or approve the list with modifications.
If the List of Candidates is approved by the Magistrate, the RO shall no later than the following day publish the approved titles and symbols.
“The approved titles and symbols will then be included on the ballot papers to be used for Election Day,” Persaud added.
GECOM is required to publish symbols and the approved Lists of Candidates no later than February 2. LGE will be held on March 28.
Meanwhile, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan in a brief interview told this publication that he is awaiting GECOM’s report on Nomination Day activities. He said of particular interest to him is the number of individuals submitting an interest to contest the elections.
“As you know, this is the first time individuals are able to contest… and this is the objective of depoliticising the management of communities… I am looking forward to GECOM’s report,” Minister Bulkan said.
On Saturday Police ‘A’ Division Commander Clifton Hicken and a team of officers visited several sites to ensure adequate security arrangements are in place. He said there will be zero tolerance for unruly behaviour at any of the identified areas. During his site visits, the ‘A’ Division Commander discussed the arrangements in place to assist GECOM staff in executing their respective duties hindrance-free.
The team visited LGE sites located at the Luckhoo Building on Waterloo Street, the East Bank Demerara Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) offices: Eccles/Ramsburg at Providence Stadium; Herstelling/ Little Diamond at Farm; Mocha-Arcadia; New Diamond/Grove Primary School; Caledonia/Good Success; and Soesdyke/Coverden.
LGE was last held here in 1994.

By Ariana Gordon