Electoral reform laws passed in National Assembly

…as APNU/AFC fails in attempts to delay Bill

The Government on Tuesday passed long-awaited amendments to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA), after impassioned debates on both sides of the House and arguments for and against the electoral reforms, which ran past midnight.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who presented the Bill, emphasised why it was necessary and what the Bill seeks to do. Not only does the Bill increase the number of polling places, it also mandates the Registrar of Deaths to submit the names of the deceased so they can be removed from the list.
“We agree, Mr Speaker, that dead people ought not to be on the list. Under the Constitution they are disqualified and must be removed. Unfortunately, it would appear that they have not been removed at periodic intervals from the list. That’s the report out there.”

“What we’re doing now, is to make it mandatory for the Registrar of Deaths to furnish to the Chief Registration Officer, a list of dead people every four months, and the requisite information confirming those deaths,” Nandlall explained.
His Bill received support from his colleagues on the Government side, including Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, who also responded to the Opposition’s call for biometrics to be included in the reforms. Bharrat noted that while the Government is not against biometrics, they must complement, not replace the system.
“We heard from the Member that spoke from the Opposition benches, about the list. Let us remind them, that this is the very list that they claimed to have won the 2015 elections with. But when they won in 2015, the list was good. The list was clean. It was perfect. But when they lost in 2020, it’s a bloated list. It’s padded. Dead people voted. And all sorts of excuses.”
“We hear about election petition, court cases, bloated list. We hear the PPP is not interested in biometrics. The PPP has never said that. What we’ve said is that it must be used to complement the existing system. To put further safeguards to our electoral process. It should not replace the existing system,” Bharrat said.

Delay
The Opposition made repeated calls for the passage of the Bill to be delayed until a Special Select Committee could examine it. Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament Khemraj Ramjattan hinted that while parts of the Bill could even get Opposition support, other parts are hurdles to bipartisan support. For instance, despite the Government’s efforts to clarify the residency requirement in the amendments, Ramjattan argued for this section of the principal act to be left intact.
“You should have put in back that which is not clear and that is the residency requirement. Because we are going to have a scenario where so many people can take advantage of the bloat,” he said.

“A lot of these amendments, you carry them to the select committee, a lot of them will be supported. But this one here is the big set up for a lot of nasty things that can happen in future elections by impersonation.”

The Opposition’s shadow Attorney General, Roysdale Forde, also stressed that the Bill must go to a Special Select Committee. However, Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag made it clear that they were long past time to send the Bill to a Special Select Committee.
“This is the second reading. We’re debating this Bill. This Bill has been laid in this Parliament many moons ago. There was enough time for that to be raised. Not only that… this Bill and all its amendments, were placed on the websites of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance and you know what’s worse? I sit on a committee of the IRI, just like the Honourable Member and I have brought it to their attention many times, that it is on the website,” Parag said.

No contribution
Parag also recalled a recent consultation that was held on the Bill at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC). During the consultation, several members of the Opposition walked out of the session without making any contributions.
“So, for the Honourable Member to come here and pretend as if this Bill is now coming and rammed down their throats? I don’t think so. Because I have been through the process from beginning as well. And many others, who do not belong to the (main political parties) came along as well and made their contributions,” the Minister added.
The 68-page Bill to reform Guyana’s electoral laws was eventually passed, with Deputy Speaker and Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) Leader Lenox Shuman the lone Opposition member supporting it.
Among the provisions of the Bill is the increase in polling places, the capping of the number of electors that can be assigned to a particular polling station to cut down on the long lines and the subdivision of the regions.
According to Section 6 (A) of the Bill, the polling districts of Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) will be divided.
The Bill also provides that the Statements of Poll (SoPs), among other certified forms, be distributed to the Chief Election Officer, and the Chairman of the Commission. Additionally, it provides for the Returning Officer to post an electronic copy of the SoP on the Commission’s website to be publicly viewed. Strict fines and penalties are attached for breach of these principles in the amended Bill. (G3)