Guyana’s electoral laws: National stakeholder consultation on draft amendments to be held on Oct 25

The Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Ministry will be convening a national stakeholders’ consultation on the draft amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws on October 25.
According to the Ministry, the consultation will be held from 13:00h to 16:00h at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.

This consultation is an integral element of the Government of Guyana’s commitment to implement a consultative, inclusive and participatory process regarding electoral reform.
The Ministry on Wednesday said that the stakeholder consultation formed part of a continuous consultative process, which began on November 6, 2021 when the Ministry published the draft Representation of the People’s (Amendment) (ROPA) Bill and the draft regulations made under the Representation of the People’s Act on its social media pages. As such, the public was invited to peruse the draft documents and submit feedback to the Ministry within six weeks; however, after requests for extensions, the Ministry accommodated submissions of feedback well into 2022.
Recommendations, the Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said, were received from a variety of stakeholders including civil society actors, the Guyana Elections Commission, some political parties, and interested individuals and organisations. These recommendations were consolidated and provided to the Attorney General, who in May 2022, facilitated in-person meetings with the respondents.
Updated versions of the ROPA Bill and Regulations have been made available once again. and the new draft amendments to the National Registration Act have also been made accessible for public perusal via a link published on the Ministry’s Facebook pages. To this end, 157 organisations have been invited to the upcoming consultation on October 25. These organisations represent a broad cross-section of society including political parties; constitutional bodies; civil society organisations in the labour movement; Private Sector, faith-based, youth, women, LGBTQ, ethnic/cultural, health and rehabilitation organisations; and other civil society actors.
At the upcoming consultation, the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, will make presentations and lead discussions on the draft amendments to the electoral laws including the aforementioned Representation of the People’s (Amendment) Bill 2022, Regulations Made Under the Representation of the People’s Act 2021, and National Registration (Amendment) Bill 2022.
The Ministry said that the public was invited to tune into these consultations via the livestream to gain more information about the proposed amendments and become further immersed in the legislative reform process. “The Government of Guyana remains committed to creating more robust and coherent elections legislation as part of the constantly-developing democratic architecture of our One Guyana,” the statement on Wednesday said.