THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has agreed to recommence progressive deliberations on a timeline for new General and Regional Elections, with the unanimous decision that optional timeframes will be provided.

The presentation on these timeframes is expected to be completed and presented to the commission on Tuesday, February 5, 2019, as both sides see the new agreement as progress towards a much-needed solution.

Coming out of GECOM’s statutory meeting on Tuesday, People’s Progressive Party (PPP)-nominated Commissioner, Bibi Shadick, updated the media on the decision.
“A decision was taken that the secretariat will prepare work plans giving timelines for the different options that were presented by the CEO,” Shadick stated.

“The Operation Sub-Committee will be provided with those and they will meet before Tuesday, February 5 – which is the next statutory day — so that they can report to the meeting on the next statutory day about all the possibilities. That is where we are.”
At the commission’s second meeting since the return of previously ill GECOM Chair Justice (ret’d) James Patterson, the procedure saw several scenarios for possible elections being put forward by the GECOM Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

These included scenarios where elections would be held within a 90-day period; where the budgeted $3B house-to-house registration would take place prior to new elections and a few others.

However, by the end of the meeting, the commissioners had encountered a deadlock expressing contrasting views to the media on, not only GECOM’s preparedness, but also on the best possible timeline for new elections.
PPP- nominated commissioners pressed for elections to be held by March and for simultaneous training exercises countrywide to speed up the process.

COUNTER
This was countered by government-appointed commissioners, who advocated house-to-house registration or, at a minimum, a claims-and objections-period for the cleansing of the list.

These are among the variations to be considered in the report of the Operation Sub-Committee, which will also present a timeframe of the shortest possible time for elections to be held and a compact proposal for house-to-house registration.
The committee is co-chaired by Commissioner Sase Gunraj and Charles Corbin and includes Desmond Trotman and Robeson Benn as members.

“There is a kind of progress, but we need to see what the alternatives are that are presented to the Operation Sub-Committee and the results of those discussions,” Shadick said.

Later, speaking with the media, Commissioner Vincent Alexander said the commission now looks forward to a more definitive presentation on what the options are by Tuesday, February 5.

He said that following that process, they will once again have to meet with the chief whips of the government and opposition to update them and their leaders on the progress made.

MOVING FOWARD
“Today’s meeting has provided a framework for a way forward. It’s not that we’ve said ‘nothing is happening’ or ‘nothing can happen’; we’ve established a framework which, hopefully, gives us the scope to move forward,” Alexander commented.
However, Benn believes that efforts are being made to intentionally delay the holding of elections.

He put forward that in all other cases when the question of elections arose, the commission was presented with work plans and schedules which indicated the time, activities and manpower required.

“This is the first occasion in which we have not been presented with the work plans and schedules with respect to that matter and that in itself is damning,” he contended.
However, Alexander argued that these situations were hindered by the chairman’s illness and the disagreements witnessed between the commissioners.

“GECOM’s Secretariat was handicapped by the fact that it had no directives and that in the first instance, this might have been occasioned by the absence of the chairman for a prolonged period and in the second instance, they still had no directives because of the stalemates among the commissioners,” he said. “So I would not hold the secretariat responsible for holding up anything,” he said.

Regarding the presence of a work plan, he said the secretariat had already compiled a work plan for 2019 but reiterated that, in the light of political developments, there was no directive to deliver a different work plan until last Tuesday (January 29) with the return of Patterson.

“The secretariat has been cautious because in the past, when the secretariat took initiatives, they were accused of acting outside of their remit; and so now that they’re cautious, they’re being accused of not taking [the] initiative. So they’re caught in a bind,” Alexander said.

Responding to whether he believes progress is being made, he added: “From where we were in terms of the stalemate to now, yes [there’s progression]. We’ve re-opened for interaction and for resolution of the problems.”