PPP reiterates GECOM not ready for local gov’t poll

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) should get its “act together”, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee said, as he again contended that the Commission was in no state to hold Local Government Elections, which were last held approximately 20 years ago.

Under the chairmanship of Dr Steve Surujbally, GECOM has publicly stated that it was in a state of readiness, but on Wednesday, during a weekly press conference at Freedom House, Rohee argued that there were many loopholes within the system.

The General Secretary explained that based on information emanating out of GECOM, 585 constituencies have been identified among the 71 Local Authority Areas; however, the Party believes that eligible voters might have been omitted from the voters’ lists. Rohee said the PPP was not confident that enough groundwork and consultation were done by GECOM to ensure that eligible voters would be correctly placed on their respective constituency list.

“It is our contention that GECOM should do physical verifications within the communities and invite the political parties’ representatives to ensure that everyone is placed on the respective list, thus allowing for a fair and transparent process whenever elections are called,” he suggested.

Disenfranchised?

According to Rohee, in 2010, GECOM had committed to divide the Diamond New Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara into 14 smaller voters’ lists before placing voters into three constituencies due to the size of the eligible voting population, which totalled 4504 at the time.

But despite this promise, he said the plan was aborted on the request of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR). According to Rohee, the PPP was reliably informed that the lists were compiled.

In the quest to further represent the current standing of the PPP, the General Secretary said it was clear that GECOM was in no position to facilitate Local Government Elections by August 1. He pointed out that in August, the Commission will commence its claims-and-objection period, weeks after the conclusion of the Sixth Cycle of Continuous Registration.

In February, the Opposition capitalised on its one-seat majority to amend the Local Authorities (Elections Amendment) Bill 2014 to make it mandatory that Local Government Elections be held by August 1. The Bill was tabled by former Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud.

However, the Bill failed to gain the assent of President Donald Ronald. According to Rohee, with the exception of a “few misguided” persons in the Opposition and members of the Diplomatic Corps, many Guyanese are in support of the President’s decision.

Rohee said GECOM should come clean on its state of readiness. “The PPP calls on GECOM to make a public declaration on this very sensitive issue, and to fulfil its constitutional mandate by ensuring that everyone eligible to vote is placed on the official list of electors and that no one be disenfranchised.”