ERG pushes for electoral reform at constitutional level

– also urges reforms in structure at GECOM

One of the things raised during the Electoral Reform Group’s (ERG) consultations with the Attorney General Chambers, is for electoral reform not just at the statutory level, but also at the level of the Constitution.
In a statement sent out on Saturday, ERG was of the view that statutory changes to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) were not enough to achieve complete electoral reform.
This, as well as other grievances they have including those concerning the bringing of persons to justice for the March 2020 attempt to steal democracy, was conveyed to Attorney General Anil Nandlall, at their meeting in the AG Chambers on May 9, 2022.
“The ERG had submitted comments on the proposed amendments in December 2021. Present at the meeting were the Attorney General, Mr Anil Nandlall, and two other Government officials, two representatives of the ERG and two representatives of the Private Sector Commission. ERG’s Coordinator, Dr Desmond Thomas, and member Mr Colin Klautky, ERG and GOIP member, represented ERG.”

“The ERG observed that, upon assumption of office, the President had stated that there would be a thorough investigation into the political crisis following the March 2 elections in 2020, but this has not occurred. Such an investigation is a critical step toward diagnosing the causes of problems and will better guide reform proposals,” the ERG also said.
According to them, they were told by the AG during the meeting that the Government is committed to electoral reform but that it is dealing only with statutory changes to the Representation of the People Act at this time… specifically excluding changes to the Constitution.
“He (AG) mentioned that constitutional changes would require bipartisan consensus. The ERG maintained that sustainable electoral reform required comprehensive social consensus with effective civil society involvement,” ERG said.
“In the view of the ERG, the narrow focus on the RoPA amounts to reinforcing a system in dire need of reform instead of fixing it. Moreover, the AG’s position takes many critical issues off the table for consideration, including several matters listed in the ERG submission such as possible changes in the total number of constituencies and rank ordering of candidate lists.”
According to them, a key sticking point was the urgent need for restructuring and reform of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). They noted that the present GECOM structure is not working adequately to deliver elections that are free from suspicion and readily acceptable to major stakeholders. Thus, they stressed the need to reform GECOM.
“The AG defended Guyana’s current electoral system arguing that proportional representation guaranteed the democracy of the system. This position ignores the findings of studies and recommendations in the media for years that indicate that a large proportion of the population has no confidence in Guyana’s electoral system. The ERG representatives indicated support for the principle of proportionality but held that this did not negate the urgent need for reform.”
“On the matter of the proposal within the amendments for the breakup of Region Four into separate districts for election purposes, the ERG reiterated its position that this was not justified given that the problem that occurred in 2020 was caused by a breakdown within GECOM and not by Region Four voters.”
According to the ERG, they are of the view that electoral reform is a vital, necessary step to the strengthening of democratic institutions and processes in Guyana in order to maintain political stability and raise the standard of living of citizens. As such, they expressed their willingness to contribute to comprehensive social dialogue in order to achieve those goals.