— ROPA amendments to be tabled when Parliament resumes, ready before Local Government Elections

WITH the widespread consultations on the amendments to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) concluded, the government is expected to table the amendments in the National Assembly when Parliament resumes in October.

Speaking on the issue at a press conference on Friday, Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo explained that the government is hoping to have the legislation passed before Local Government Elections (LGE). LGE is expected to be held before year end.

“As soon as Parliament comes out of recess and hopefully before Local Government Elections,” Jagdeo said.
RoPA is one of the pieces of legislation which governs elections in Guyana. The RoPA makes provision for the election of members of the National Assembly under a system of Proportional Representation and for purposes connected therewith.

Reduced powers of the Chief Elections Officer CEO), the need for polling places to be identified long before elections day, the posting of Statement of Polls on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) website, penalties for electoral offences, and the subdividing of Region Four (Demerara Mahaica) into four sub districts are some of the amendments on the card.

“These are all matter that will be addressed to strengthen the conduct of elections in the future,” Jagdeo noted.
The amendments are in keeping with the People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPP/C) commitment to electoral reform against the backdrop of the five-month-long attempt by Coalition elements to rig the elections following the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

The amendments to the Act, just one of the several pieces of legislation slated for amendment, are intended to address some of those exploitations, absurdities and vulgarities, which were revealed during the five-month period.

These amendments are expected to strengthen the democratic process, make the process more transparent and the electoral machinery more accountable.
Dr. Jagdeo during the press conference recalled several issues faced during the 2020 elections, particularly as it pertained to getting clarity from the then CEO, Keith Lowenfield, on process and procedures for the elections.

TRANSPARENCY
The new amendments will provide for clarification and transparency in this area.
“I remember when we asked Lowenfield for anything in writing he would have it in his head and that gave him discretionary power. After the law is amended no CEO will have that power. All the manuals and training material for GECOM staff will have to be made public three months before the elections. Every member of the public will see the entire manual for the conduct of elections, they will see the role of each staff of GECOM and all the procedures that will have to be followed so there will be no room for doubt on how the elections will be conducted,” Dr. Jagdeo explained.

Lowenfield, along with the former Region Four Returning Officer, Claremont Mingo and former GECOM Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers, are currently still before the court facing several charges related to electoral fraud in the 2020 elections.

The Vice-President noted that it is also important that the amendments address the issues of polling stations, whereby usually the CEO determined where polling stations are to be located, with no clear criteria to guide the exercise of discretion in relation to the number of polling stations within an electoral division, nor how many people are to be listed to vote at a particular polling station.

During the 2020 elections, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) had raised a number of concerns pertaining to polling places when the number of polling places in Region Four was reduced.
The need for the sub-dividing of Region Four, the country’s largest voting constituency, was deemed necessary to have each district given its own staff, infrastructure, regulations and systems and procedures to operate as an electoral district by itself, given the large size of the region.

“It will be formalised now so that you can have more people now managing those areas because they have large numbers of voters.  We are not dividing Region Four. It’s just for admin purposes so that it can be better managed,” Dr. Jagdeo explained

It was during the counting of votes in Region Four in the 2020 Regional and General Elections that attempts were made to rig the results for this region, for which Lowenfield, Mingo and Myers are now facing charges.