…gov’t-nominated commissioners stick with house-to-house registration
…during meeting with new GECOM chair; opposition says discussion was cordial

GENERAL and Regional Elections, house-to-house registration, and the court cases challenging the voter registration exercise were reportedly among the critical issues discussed when the newly appointed Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, S.C, CCH met with government and opposition-nominated commissioners in separate meetings on Wednesday.

The first meeting with the opposition-nominated commissioners – Robeson Benn, Bibi Shadick and Sase Gunraj – was held at the commission’s High Street Office from 10:30hrs and lasted for approximately one hour and 45 minutes.

The government-nominated commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman – met with Justice Singh at 14:00hrs on Wednesday for approximately three hours. At the end of those meetings, commissioners on both sides were tight-lipped on their discussions with the chair. The usually vocal Robeson Benn, when approached by the media, would only say: “Well we have had a very cordial meeting – very informative,” The meetings, according to him, will continue, and the opposition-nominated commissioners look forward to positive engagements with Justice Singh.

Commissioner Gunraj, however, gave a brief summary of the meeting; he noted that it was intended to familiarise the newly-appointed chairperson with the operations of the elections commission and to hear the commissioners’ views.

“Obviously, some of the issues that were discussed were all matters that are in the public domain, in relation to the conduct of elections that are constitutionally due, the issue of house-to-house registration was raised, the alternative to house-to-house registration, not the alternative but what should be happening — the claims and objections, etc, those were all issues that were discussed,” Commissioner Gunraj told reporters outside of GECOM’s High Street Office.

According to Gunraj, he was satisfied that he was able to raise critical issues on the ongoing house-to-house registration exercise and the pending elections. “I believe that it is my duty, as I have said before, to convince her of my view on it, and I have presented that view as best as I think I could as part of a team that met with her,” Commissioner Gunraj said. He noted that the meeting was very cordial and allowed for the free flow of information in a respectful manner.

“The chairman appeared very receptive and respectful to the views that we presented to her and I believe that is in keeping with her long judicial service and as a consequence we look forward to having meaningful deliberations with all sides present when that time comes,” he added.

After the approximately three-hour long meeting with Justice Singh, the government- nominated commissioners also described the meeting as cordial, but declined to disclose what was discussed. “Now what we will indicate to you is that we met with the chairman and we had discussion where we responded to questions that she asked, and we expressed our views to her, and any further comments could only be made by the chairman herself,” Commissioner Corbin told reporters.

Pressed for greater details, Commissioner Alexander in response said “everything was discussed. Everything was discussed. Everything possible was discussed,” adding that the meeting was cordial and included an exchange of information and views on the current issues facing the commission. In search of more answers, journalists turned their attention to house-to-house registration, and the commissioners’ current position on it.

Asked if he still supports the call for house-to-house registration, Alexander said yes. Asked if this is likely to change, the veteran GECOM commissioner said: “My view is that there should be sanitisation of the list, sanitisation of the national register of registrants for the provision of a list that can provide credible elections – that is not likely to change.”

Weighing in on the matter, Commissioner Corbin said that house-to-house registration is the most efficient method to generate a credible list for election, emphasising that the commission had unanimously approved this national exercise. “The view that is being expressed that this was some persons’ view and not others is incorrect.

The commission unanimously determined some time ago, after a whole series of discussions on matters that we are privy to us as members of the commission, that it was necessary to sanitise the list, and the best method to do that was by house to house,” he explained.
He added: “So in 2016, 2017 and 2018, the commission unanimously requested funds to execute that house-to-house in accordance with the deliberations which we have had for the sanitisation of the list. So this is not something new.”

Commissioner Corbin said, now, the issue is whether the commission should proceed with the national registration exercise in light of the successful no-confidence motion against the government last December that triggered the need for early elections. However, he said because the conduct of elections was protracted, the commission thought it fitting to proceed with its programme until the external factors kick in. However, he maintained that the decision to facilitate house-to-house registration was a unanimous one.

“The decision to do house-to-house for the sanitisation of the list was a unanimous decision which was made prior to now, prior to the previous chairman. It was made since the chairmanship of Chairman (Dr. Steve) Surujbally,” Commissioner Corbin noted.

On Tuesday, Justice Singh met with the senior managers of the commission and is expected to continue her familiarisation exercise throughout the week. It is unclear at the moment when she will meet with the commissioners together; however, that meeting is likely to take place shortly.