WITHOUT a doubt, elections in Guyana have always been controversial, mirroring what the former leader of the defunct Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin once said: “those who cast votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything.”

We would like these views to be buried, like Stalin, in the trash can of history anywhere, any place, at any time when elections are being held. We prefer the will of voters to be counted in tandem with the basic tenets of democracy. We detest the urgency to plant cabals of dissidence within specific agencies of the electoral machinery to twist, thwart, and tweak the outcomes of general elections to meet the desires of demagogues to remain in power. Unfortunately, the latter point, in some developing countries such as Guyana, is merely an exercise in reverie; a state of pleasant daydreaming. Any modicum of a fair election is awash with semantics, providing heavy fodder for the clumsiest of comedians.

That said, it boggles the mind, given the attempts of supporters of the APNC+AFC coalition to barefacedly steal the 2020 general election in front of millions of people watching on social media, that the opposition is calling for local elections to be held later next year. At this juncture, one is forced to ask: Why would anyone want to conduct an even mock election to test the circumstances to reveal any semblance of integrity? Apart from the simmering disappointment of some, nothing has changed since the failed attempt to steal the 2020 general election, and the fanatical fiasco of despair, anxiety, dishonesty, and distrust that demoralised the nation for over five months will not simply go away by themselves. Allowing the citizenry to go to the polls again will be tantamount to placing them in a boat on the Essequibo River with no paddles. We wish, instead, for the right mechanisms to be implemented first and foremost to avoid hearing “dey election going to be rigged again, man.” This is the burden and weight we cannot get off our shoulders; this is the perception we cannot erase.  The rigging label is here to stay, unfortunately. The label has embarked on a journey of its own, and has become synonymous with the name, Guyana. But unlike the good image of the ‘Land of many beautiful rivers, landscapes, and people’, the klutzy rigging label rings hollow; a hallmark of human indecency.

Local elections, of course, are not like general elections that determine the outcome of the changing of the guard at the national level, so to speak; local elections determine who will be placed in the mantle of leadership at the local level, so much so that the chain of command in a democracy is practised. Arguably, the leaders at the local level have more knowledge of their communities than anyone else, and so, implicitly, they have more substance to bring to the table in exchange with their leaders at the national level in pursuant of equitable growth and development for all of Guyana.

Understandably, there are caveats associated with local elections, and if memory serves well, there have been only three or four local elections since the 1970s. This does not bode well for a country that functions in a top-down approach. More power should be diffused and disseminated from the top to the local level, with purpose and intent to empower the people in their own communities. We are, therefore, unsurprised that the population is not impressed with local elections, believing that local elections are merely decorative and void of substance. We recommend that policies and programmes should be in place to inform and sensitise the populace of the importance of local elections.

The above caveats are, however, only the tip of the iceberg when compared with the shenanigans emanating from the general election, after which local elections are modeled. And herein lies the crux of the challenge. We certainly need effective reforms at GECOM; we anticipate that reforms will be pursued soon, but the fundamental question is: Would the positioned people in the electoral machinery observe, obey, and abide by the reformed rules and regulations of GECOM? We are sitting on the fence with this mandate; the pangs of disappointment run deep in GECOM, especially for those who believed that they have failed their macabre masters. We have hit a dead-end in terms of conducting reliable elections in Guyana; until and unless reform, compliance, and dedicated honesty have become the guiding and gilded principles, anything else will be a playbook for electoral mayhem and rigging.
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