GECOM ready for polls – Surujbally … Says action plan puts elections date in August 2011

By Radha  Motielall 

Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally, has said that, barring a few statutory matters, the commission is ready for the keenly-anticipated national and regional elections which are due this year. Surujbally also predicted an election date in August, although he said the setting of the date is completely out of his hands, as this was a matter for the president.   

Political parties expected to contest elections, which were last held in 2006, have begun identifying possible presidential candidates, and President Bharrat Jagdeo, in his New Year’s message, told citizens to use the electoral process to demonstrate the primacy of the Guyanese people in deciding who should govern them.  He said he was confident that, as was the case in 2006, “we will ensure elections that meet international standards, and which will exemplify our maturity as a member of the democratic fold of nations”.

In an interview done last week with Guyana Times International, on the commission’s preparations for elections, Surujbally said: “We have been doing our work, and we will not be faulted”. This year’s polls are keenly anticipated, especially since the main political parties are likely to field new candidates for the presidency.  

However, Surujbally said, the in-house changes in the political parties will change nothing for GECOM, as the commission’s work remains the same. GECOM, last year, had prepared for the holding of the long-overdue local government elections, but the event did not materialise.  

The government had tabled a raft of reform bills in Parliament, but the main opposition, People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), was not in support of the holding of those elections without the passage of all the reform bills, some of which are still before the National Assembly. But despite this setback, the commission initiated the continuous registration cycle, having had in place its new National Register of Registrants (NRR) from the house-to-house registration done in 2008.  

Dr Surujbally said that, during 2010, the commission sanitised the voters’ list which was extracted for the local government elections. He added that, with the work done during last year, “never again will the list be a problem here in Guyana”.

“So, minus certain statutory matters to be completed, GECOM is ready for the 2011 general and regional elections,” Surujbally declared, adding that the “A” team is ready and raring to go, and he cannot foresee them fumbling or stumbling.  

Dr Surujbally said that some of the items procured for the local government elections in 2010, including ballot boxes, can and will be used for the 2011 elections.  

Financing

Meanwhile, in terms of financing for the elections, the chairman says he is not worried, as he has always gotten the funds needed to carry out GECOM’s mandate. He recalled the smooth running of the 2006 elections, with no financial constraints. Late last year, when government directed GECOM to stop placing some of its advertisements in the print media, GECOM had protested. Surujbally had told this newspaper then that the directive from head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, stated that advertisements must be submitted to the Government Information Agency for placement on the e-procurement website, www.eprocure.gov.gy, “with the exception of those associated with GECOM’s constitutional and legal responsibilities (orders, notices, acts and amendments)”. Surujbally explained that the arrangement cannot work because of the nature of GECOM’s mandate. He refuted any notion that the commission’s reluctance was linked to a bid for independence. GECOM currently still owes the various news agencies millions of dollars for the last set of advertisements placed in preparation for the postponed local government elections.

Continuous registration 

Meanwhile, the second cycle of continuous registration concluded on December 31, 2010. The commission will now prepare for fingerprinting and cross-matching of electors; after which it will commence the claims and objections period in finalising the list for the 2011 polls. While Dr Surujbally reiterated that he does not make the elections call in terms of the date, he said that if it is held in September, it would allow GECOM to get on the voters’ list everyone who would have attained the age of 18 years before September. Looking ahead towards the elections, the chairman anticipates that his two biggest challenges will be treating with the thousands of Guyanese still to be registered and the thousands more yet to collect their new identification cards.   

According to him, there are about 50,000 ID cards still to be uplifted. He said that the parliamentary political parties were given a list of those who are yet to uplift their cards, so that they can help with that process. He added that, as political parties wanting to be elected, they also have a duty to ensure that the electorate is equipped with their ID cards, which would enable them to vote.  In terms of those yet to be registered, the chairman said, there is not much that GECOM can do, as the main source document remains the birth certificate, which was agreed to by stakeholders. However, there are still some residual problems, especially slothfulness in Guyanese trying to access their birth certificates.