POLITICAL parties, voluntary groups and individuals contesting the June 12 Local Government Elections (LGE) have until today, April 26, to correct any defects identified on the List of Candidates by the Returning Officers (RO) of the respective districts.
The titles and symbols of the lists, and the names of the candidates are expected to be published by the ROs by Saturday, April 29, Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Yolanda Ward has confirmed.
Entities contesting the LGE would have submitted the names of their proposed candidates to contest in the 610 constituencies across the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAA) on Nomination Day, April 17.
Since then, the various ROs have been examining those lists to ensure that all components are in accordance with the provisions of Sections 38 A, 44 and 44A of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Cap 28:03.
The provisions of Sections 38A, 44 and 44A outline the various ways in which a list may be deemed defective, such as if the list is not in the prescribed form, is not accompanied by statutory declaration in the prescribed form, does not have the required number of persons, does not have the required number of signatories, or is a list without an approved symbol, among other reasons.
According to statutory requirements, in the case of a defect being identified, the RO must, no later than the 49 days before the elections, inform the Representative or Deputy Representative of the Lists, and specify the nature of the defect or defects.
The Representative/Deputy Representative of a List of Candidate then has until 47 days before Election Day to submit the corrections to the lists to the RO.
For those lists found to be in order, the RO will, not later than the 46th day before Elections Day, publicly declare the titles of the approved lists, and the names of candidates therein, and will give notice, in writing, to the Representative or Deputy Representative.
Within that timeline, the RO must also notify the Representative or Deputy Representative of any List that has not been approved.
Both of Guyana’s two main political parties, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), have submitted their list of candidates to contest in the LGE. A number of involuntarily groups and individuals have also come forth to contest particular areas.
The PPP/C has declared that the party has submitted candidates to contest in all 80 LAAs. APNU, however, has been cryptic about the constituencies and areas that they have put forward candidates for, only noting that they are contesting in “virtually” all of the LAAs.
General Secretary of the PPP/C, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has, however, revealed that the APNU is only contesting in 279 of the 610 constituencies in 24 of the 80 LAAs. The APNU has since denied this, but continues to withhold any information on where the party is contesting.
