–with passage of much-needed ROPA amendments in the National Assembly

THE Representation of the People Act (ROPA) (Amendment) Bill of 2022 was early Tuesday morning passed in the National Assembly, paving the way for electoral districts Three, Four and Six to be divided for the purpose of the tabulation of votes.

The 63-page Bill, which was first read in the National Assembly in November 2022 following extensive consultation, was described as a much-needed amendment to the legislation by Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall, S.C.

During the second reading and debates, which began on Monday evening and went on to Tuesday morning, the Attorney- General stated that the amendments are wide-ranging and cover from top to bottom of the initial ROPA.

Nandlall said that the first component of the Bill deals with various sections of the Election Laws Amendment Act (ELA), and places them at convenient places within the ROPA.

He said that there are a series of provisions that are now being inserted into this Bill that were found within the ELA of 2000, even as similar provisions from the National Registration Act (NRA) necessary to ROPA were also added to the Bill.

While he mentioned that the ROPA is nearly 100 years old, he added that due to the passage of time, the Act would have required a review in any case. However, the 2020 General and Regional Elections brought to light the way in which the legislation, in that form, could have been subjected to abuse.

Among the significant amendments under the ROPA is the division of electoral districts Three, Four and Six into sub- districts to better tabulate the votes being cast.

Initially, the first recommendation was for District Four to be divided into these sub- districts, as this region was the subject of issues highlighted during the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

When proposals for the amendments were put forward, the Opposition rebelled against this recommendation, as it believed that the adjustment would cause interference in an area that is widely considered their “stronghold”.

As such, in a bid to demonstrate the government’s commitment to a transparent process, a decision was made to include two electoral districts, these being Three and Six, by using the rationale of the voting population.

Specifically, Section 6A of the amended ROPA states that Electoral District No. 3 will be divided into three sub-districts, while District No. 4 will be divided into four sub- districts, and District No. 6 into three.

These sub-districts will have a Supernumerary Returning Officer, who will perform the duties of what used to be the functions of the returning officer for the entire district.

As such, ballots and Statements of Poll, along with ballot boxes will go to a centre presided over by this Supernumerary Officer, who will now conduct the tabulation which would have been tabulated by a Returning Officer using the same guidelines.

This, in turn, means that instead of having one large tabulation exercise for the district, there will now be three exercises for Districts Three and Six, and four for District Four.

CONSULTATION PROCESS
Adding to the debate, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira stated that several organisations, including the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), had submitted comments and recommendations for the amendments to the ROPA.

During this time, the Opposition, according to Minister Teixeira, chose to abdicate their responsibility to their constituency by not making significant recommendations to this Act.

With that, she stated that it appears that the Opposition has no appetite for electoral reform or constitutional reform.

“This is the agenda of the Opposition; to be obstructionist and to try to ‘mamaguy’ the Guyanese people; to talk about bloated list and dead people voting,” Minister Teixeira said.

Standing in support of the Bill during the second reading was Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag, who also praised the extensive consultative process prior to bringing the Bill to the House.

While opposition members Amanza Walton-Desir, Khemraj Ramjattan and Roysdale Forde told the House that they would like to see the Bill taken to a Select committee for further consideration, Minister Parag told the National Assembly that the Opposition has shown no interest in participating in consultations on amendments to the Bill that have been held for the almost one-year period that it was out in the public.

In her address during the national stakeholder forum, which was held in late October this year as part of the consultation on the draft legislation, Parag noted that the Opposition also did not utilise that opportunity to make contributions.

“Their response to the Attorney-General’s presentation… they said nothing; they just walked out, while other stakeholders came and made their contributions, in addition to the contributions that were made Online,” she said.

The minister added that the Opposition should not come to the National Assembly and pretend as if the Bill and its amendments are now being publicised.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Lennox Shuman, in his address to the House, stated that the Bill is not one that restricts GECOM from being innovative in how they conduct the polls, that rather it opens the door for the Commission to explore those possibilities.

“This Bill does exactly what it needs to do to ensure that what transpired in 2020 never happens again,” Shuman said.

Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha and Member of Parliament Sanjeev Datadin both rose in support of the Bill.