WITH the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) still vetting candidates for major positions in the organisation’s administrative hierarchy, Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lenox Shuman, is urging the statutory body to look towards international partners for assistance in this process.

“I am imploring you to guide the commission to solicit and accept support from our international partners to conduct this process to fill these important offices and restore the integrity, credibility and [the] public’s confidence in the commission that is so desperately needed at this juncture,” Shuman said in a letter to Chairperson of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.

Shuman, the first leader to represent the joinder of smaller political parties which merged their acquired votes to secure one seat in the National Assembly, is also the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Guyana’s 12th Parliament.

Shuman cautioned in his letter that if his recommendation is not followed, “there exists a public fear that the status quo will once again lend itself to political manipulation as we have seen in the past and that will further undermine [the] institution that was meant to fortify democracy in Guyana.”

Shuman’s qualm, however, is not solely with the hiring process at the elections body. He hinted at a number of changes that should be made, which he said are included in the reports from election observer missions for national and regional elections since the early 2000s.

“Were we to set aside those recommendations,” he said, adding: “It would demonstrate the respect we have for our international partners, the value we place on their work, and it has the potential of painting Guyana as finding friends of convenience instead of friends with mutual values and respect.”

The rest of the world watched and weighed in with shock at the prolonged 2020 general and regional elections of Guyana which, because of a myriad of challenges, were delayed for five months.

Coming out of the 2020 elections, the Dr. Irfaan Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has committed to a number of reforms to electoral laws. This work could also, possibly, be supported by the Law Reform Commission which was activated after this current government took office.

The draft proposed amendments of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA), one of the pieces of legislation that governs elections in Guyana, seeks to remedy the deficiencies of the present law and to strengthen and make more transparent the country’s electoral machinery.

The RoPA is an Act to make provision for the election of members of the National Assembly under a system of Proportional Representation and for purposes connected therewith. The draft proposed amendments of the Act are currently out for consultation, before being presented to the National Assembly for debate.