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The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in a statement Tuesday said the party will not be opposed to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) embarking upon another round of Claims and Objections in respect of the Register of Voters for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) proposed to be held in 2023. The Elections are scheduled for March 13, 2023.
The present Register of Voters is in shambles. The Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) via Chief Scrutineer, Ms. Carol Smith Joseph, last Friday took GECOM, the Chief Elections Officer, the Commissioner of Registration and the Attorney General to Court on grounds that the Local Authorities Act, which regulates LGE, has been violated.
Represented by attorney-at-law Mr. Roysdale Forde SC, Smith Joseph approached the Court with two ‘Urgent Fixed Date Application’ contending several sections of the Act, has been violated by GECOM in its preparation for LGE. The applicant is asking the Court to render the Register of Voters List for LGE null, void and of no legal effect if GECOM does not comply fully with the Act.
The APNU+AFC repeatedly warned GECOM was going ahead with the preparation of LGE without regard to the electoral regime governing these elections which is different from the General and Regional Elections.
GECOM Opposition-nominated commissioners also drew GECOM’s attention to the anomalies. Nonetheless GECOM was proceeding based on advice by the Chief Election Officer and Commissioner of Registration, Mr. Vishnu Persaud, Government-nominated Commissioner and Chairperson Justice Claudette Singh.
With court action facing Persaud, Singh and the Government, Persaud last Saturday wrote Singh submitting a ‘Proposal for the Conduct of an Exercise to Correct the Registers for Voters for Local Government Elections,’ which includes seeking to correct the deficiencies raised by the Opposition. Persaud said his proposal of corrective action would require the “conduct of a 14-day exercise under Section 24A ‘Correction of Registers by Election Commission.”
Whilst indirectly acknowledging GECOM failed to do what was required, Persaud, in his letter to Singh, expressed concerns raised by the Opposition, who he identified as a major parliamentary stakeholder, and noted the importance of the LGE “to not only be free, fair and credible, but to be seen by all concerned as being free, fair and credible.”
