– GECOM Chair says Commission cannot make changes hastily; the law must run its course

By Navendra Seoraj
PUBLIC confidence in individuals attached to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was reportedly eroded by the events which occurred during a five-month impasse, following polling day on March 2, 2020, and, while there have been mounting calls for persons to be removed immediately, Chairperson of GECOM, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, has said that the commission cannot act hastily, as the law must run its course.

Calls for persons to be removed from the commission are abundant now more than ever because the country is likely to “go to the polls” once again in 2021, for the Local Government Elections (LGE).

With those elections coming on the heels of a controversial General and Regional Elections, which concluded with a victory for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) on August 2, 2020, stakeholders believe that the country’s elections machinery must first be ‘fixed’ in order for there to be a transparent and legitimate process.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) is the latest stakeholder to add its voice to calls for there to be administrative changes at GECOM before the LGE is convened.
According to a statement from the PSC on Saturday, senior officials of GECOM, including the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, and Returning Officer for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Clairmont Mingo, are before the courts for “misconduct in public office.”

As reported, those who have been charged with offences relating to electoral fraud and misconduct in public office are: Chairperson of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Volda Lawrence; Opposition activist, Carol Joseph; Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers; the CEO’s clerks, Michelle Miller, Denise Bob-Cummings; Elections Officer, Shefern February and Information Technology Officer, Enrique Livan.

They are all accused of inflating the results of Region Four – Guyana’s largest voting district – to give the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition a majority win at the March 2 polls when in fact, the PPP/C had won by 15,000 more votes.

“Nevertheless, as far as we know, none of these officers have been dismissed from their employment with GECOM, nor have they been suspended from duty.
“It is unthinkable and certainly unacceptable that GECOM should proceed to conduct Local Government Elections while these officers remain employed and involved in the conducting of these elections,” the PSC said.

Justice Singh, when asked about this during an interview on Saturday, told the Guyana Chronicle: “We have an election petition coming up and we have people being charged in court…we are going to let that proceed first and let the court take its course. You cannot just jump up like that; we are looking at the lawfulness in everything.”

Either way, the decision to make any administrative change, as explained by the chairperson, lies with the entire commission and not just her.
In further explaining this, Justice Singh said: “That is for the commission and not me…the commission will decide on those questions…I cannot decide on them, it is not a one-man commission…it is the entire commission which would know what they want and decide on the way forward.”

This issue has, however, not yet been raised at the level of the commission, but the chairperson maintained that such a topic would require serious deliberations and discussions.
“We must follow the law…things may look slow, but it is not that they are slow, we are following the law…I do not know what they want us to do, we cannot just jump like that.
“It is not that we are going to hold back our people and not do whatever…wherever the axe falls, we will have to work with it,” Justice Singh said.
And, while this issue is by no means secondary, the chairperson reiterated that the commission has to be mindful of the petition and the charges against individuals attached to the elections body.

On August 31, 2020, the APNU+AFC) Coalition, through its lawyer, Roysdale Forde, S.C, filed the documents on behalf of Claudette Thorne while on September 17, attorney Mayo Robertson filed documents on behalf of Heston Bostwick, who both want the High Court to determine the legality of the elections, and the results that led to the declaration and allocation of seats in the National Assembly.

The PSC has since posited that this petition cannot be used as a means of delaying or postponing GECOM’s preparedness to hold an election.
And, while Justice Singh was clear that GECOM will continue to follow the laws of Guyana, she said that the commission is doing everything possible to prepare for Local Government Elections.

NEW ID CARDS
The commission, in addition to preparing a budget for the LGE, is still working on the distribution of Identification (ID) Cards for not just persons who would have lost theirs, but also those who would have registered during the recent house-to-house registration exercise.

Prior to the March 2 elections, GECOM had undertaken house-to-house registration with the aim of creating a new National Register of Registrants Database (NRRD), but this process had to be cut short by Justice Singh following the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which validated the No-Confidence motion passed against the then APNU+AFC government, thus necessitating the holding of Regional and General Elections in the shortest possible time.

With persons, who registered during this process, still being qualified for an ID card, Justice Singh said the commission will have to decide whether to ask them to re-register or examine the scrutiny those registrants were subjected to.

“We are discussing the way forward with them, whether we have to ask them to re-register or to see what scrutiny they passed through…we have to be sure that we do not have any duplicates…so we are doing everything right now to see that through,” said the chairperson.

ELECTORAL REFORM
Additionally, the commission is awaiting a response from agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which would have proffered assistance in the area of electoral reform.

“That is another matter…we have been promised assistance and, I do not know, I see the government speaking about something else…I know what I have been promised…a gentleman from the UNDP came in and he promised to get back to me. He sent certain documents to show what they have done in other countries…so, we will certainly have help in relation to the list and so on,” said Justice Singh.

Although the chairperson is confident about receiving assistance from foreign institutions, she said it might not be done in time for LGE, but it will be done before the next General and Regional Elections.

The European Union (EU), which had welcomed the “democratic” conclusion of Guyana’s elections, had also said it was prepared to assist with electoral reforms.
On the basis of the recommendations presented in the final report of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM), the EU stands ready to support this reform process in cooperation with the GECOM and other electoral stakeholders.

President Irfaan Ali; Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo; Justice Singh and GECOM Commissioners, Sase Gunraj and Vincent Alexander, have all agreed that things need to be “fixed” before elections are held.

But, while the Vice-President affirmed that the party is not against the holding of LGE, he had said that the integrity of persons, still employed by GECOM, was lost after the eventful five-month impasse, following the March 2, 2020, general and regional elections.

“The PPP/C wants LGE next year; we believe that we can do extremely well in LGE and we are going to be working really hard, COVID [COVID-19] or not to ensure we improve the lives of people in their communities across this country.

“The budget next year will have resources to prepare for Local Government Elections… but with the criminals, we have no confidence with criminals running the system… we are expecting that the commission will get rid of the criminals,” Jagdeo had said.