Electoral reform group to be launched on Saturday

After a 5-month electoral ordeal which highlighted many of Guyana’s longstanding political challenges, a team of experts has decided to launch an Electoral Reform Group (ERG) aimed at encouraging civil society dialogue towards electoral reform.

According to the Group, a formal launch will take place on December 5, 2020 via a public virtual event. Making up the implementation team is its Coordinator, Lawrence Lachmansingh, a practitioner in the areas of governance and conflict prevention, with particular expertise in conflict management, elections and civil society participation in democratic processes.

Lawrence said: “I believe that Guyana’s people, who yearn for a better life, can better contribute to positive change if the electoral system encourages all of us to work together.”

Serving as the Co-coordinator is Kerry Anne Cort-Kansinally, a young professional in geospatial analysis and project management. “The stress of everyday life in Guyana takes a toll on the ambition of our young people and we need to have a better way to influence the future we want,” she underscored.

Cort-Kansinally has worked along with the Guyana Red Cross, the Rights of Children (ROC) and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA).

Meanwhile, former Head of Physical Sciences at the University of Guyana who has been teaching at all levels of education for over 50 years, Alfred Bhulai, will serve as the Group’s Secretary.

“I saw the dire consequences of rigging and other unfair and opaque practices at our elections on the lives of both the cheaters and the cheated, and I want to do something to make elections always free and fair,” he said.

Dr. Desmond Thomas, an economist who has taught at several universities, including the University of the West Indies (UWI); Trent University in Canada; the Florida International University (FIU) and the University of Guyana (UG), has been selected as one of several Implementation Leads.

He stated: “Well-executed electoral reform is the best thing Guyana can do to improve political stability and economic prospects at this time.”

Meanwhile, retired professor Rory Fraser, who has spent 14 years teaching, conducting research and providing technical assistance to underrepresented landowners in Alabama, USA, will also serve as an Implementation Lead.

Fraser said he wants to see the development of an electoral system which “holds elected officials accountable to the people they purport to represent.”

Other Implementation Leads include sustainable local and regional development and natural resources management practitioner, René Edwards; media and communications, Sara Bharrat; lecturer at the University of Guyana in the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Heetasmin Singh; and Master programme Science in Environmental Management student, Devta Ramroop.

“In 2020, I witnessed how weak electoral policy and administration can threaten the foundation of democracy. In the aftermath of the trauma, I decided that the rest of my career would be dedicated to strengthening electoral systems, starting with my own,” Bharrat said.

Meanwhile, Edwards added: “It is my view that democracy comes from and is vested in the people…electoral and governance systems have to provide the space and conditions for people to govern themselves and to be represented by elected officials who are accountable and who represent the needs and interests of citizens.”

The Electoral Reform Group believes that with immeasurable economic transformation promised to Guyana due to the large discoveries of oil, Guyana must urgently tackle long-standing challenges that have frustrated national development.

Through dialogue and stakeholder engagement that is based on citizen inputs, the ERG hopes to facilitate national ownership for reforms as a means of assuring their implementation. The ERG also hopes to demonstrate that an improved political system is possible by modelling elements such as respect, openness, flexibility, inclusivity, and transparency.

You are invited to join the launch presentation by registering for the
Zoom event using https://bit.ly/39tNa8s.