AG Nandlall calls on GECOM to “educate” Opposition Leader on voters’ list

…says Norton seems not to know changes can only be made by GECOM

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, wants the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to thoroughly clarify to the public that it cannot remove the names of persons from the voters’ list at the whims of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition.
Nandlall’s calls came on the heels of Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton saying during a recent press conference that he would continue to put pressure on the Government to clean the voters’ list, which he has been maintaining is “bloated”.
But, according to the Attorney General, it is GECOM, and not the Government of Guyana, that is responsible for compiling and maintaining the list of electors.
“This gentleman, up to now, seems not to be able to grasp that the Government of Guyana has nothing to do with a list of electors, [and] that the Constitution of Guyana establishes an agency called the Guyana Elections Commission, and it vests in that agency the exclusive powers and responsibilities to [hold elections for] which preparation includes the compilation of the list of electors in accordance with the Constitution and the Laws of Guyana. The Government has nothing to do with that.

“[Norton] seems to want unconstitutionality to take place in relation to that list, and whenever he makes those wild, reckless and unfounded allegations about unlawfulness of the list, then the Government, being a stakeholder, is entitled to speak,” Nandlall contended during his weekly programme – Issues In The News.
Against this backdrop, the Attorney General called on the Elections Commission to address the issue of removing names from the voters’ list so that both Norton and the public can understand that it is unconstitutional.
“I am using this platform to call upon GECOM to speak about the list, and to inform Mr Norton and the public that there is a ruling from the Chief Justice [Roxane George] while Mr Norton’s party was in Government, when GECOM, under an illegal Chairman appointed by President [at the time David] Granger, was attempting to remove persons from the list who are already registered…
“We took proceedings to the court, and the Chief Justice pronounced that it is unlawful and unconstitutional to remove persons who are registered on that list, unless they are disqualified on grounds laid down in the law,” he posited.
Nandlall further maintained that these changes to the list can only be made by GECOM, and not by any political party or politician.

According to the Guyana Constitution, a person’s name can only be removed from the voters’ list through death, or if they become disqualified under Article 159 (2), (3) and (4).
During a press conference on Tuesday, Norton contended, “We stand by our position on the need for a clean voters’ list and biometric identification at polling places.”

Legally there
But only last week, GECOM Chair, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, told reporters that everyone on the voters’ list is legally there. She added that if indeed the list is bloated, as alleged by the Opposition, then the ongoing ‘claims and objections’ exercise can be used to contest them and have them removed.
On Monday, GECOM rolled out the claims and objections exercise’, which is a follow-up process to the continuous registration. According to the law, a ‘claims and objections’ period is for persons seeking to make a claim to be included on the list, or make objections to their voter’s information, such as to change their address.

During this period, any person who would be 18 years and older by October 31, 2022 and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, or naturalisation, or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, can make a claim, on or before September 11, 2022, to be included on the Official List of Electors (OLE) – from which the voters’ list is extracted – provided that he/she had never previously been registered.
Persons can also make objections to the inclusion of names in the preliminary list for reasons such as if the person is dead. The claims aspect of the exercise would last until September 11, while the objections aspect would be concluded on September 15.
The GECOM Chair had noted that these exercises are in preparation for the hosting of Local Government Elections (LGE) later this year.
Norton, during the press conference, related that APNU/AFC would ask its constituents to participate in the ‘claims and objections’ exercise, but added that it does not mean the party would agree to go to the polls with the existing list.
Last week, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had opined that Norton’s threats to boycott the elections is a “big gaff”, and that he would have to “back-pedal” on his position for the Coalition Opposition to participate in the local government polls.
Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic, also indicated that once GECOM indicates its readiness, the PPP/C is ready to participate in LGE this year.
Local Government Elections, which are constitutionally due every two years, is long overdue, having last been held in November 2018.
At that poll, the then PPP/C Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs – both under the ruling APNU/AFC administration. (G8)