GECOM preparing “roadmap” for Local Govt Elections

Local Government Elections – which were scheduled for last year – are on track to being hosted in 2022 as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is preparing a roadmap towards achieving this.
This is according to Government-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj, who, during Monday’s edition of the social media programme Globespan, expressed confidence that the electoral body would host these important polls before 2023.
“There are certain processes that have to be conducted and concluded as a precursor to the holding of the elections. One of the first processes is a registration exercise to ensure that the list is refreshed, and once that list is refreshed, there are certain functions which stem from that, which of course will result in the holding of elections,” Gunraj explained.
“It is my view that we are well poised to ensure that those processes are concluded [this year], and once concluded, Local Government Elections can be held,” the GECOM Commissioner added.
Further, he noted that the seven-member Elections Commission has since asked newly-appointed Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud to prepare a “roadmap” towards the hosting of these polls.
“We asked, at our last meeting, the Chief Elections Officer to prepare basically a roadmap, which includes time and task from where we are currently to the holding of Local Government Elections and beyond. So, it’s our hope that once we get that done, we will start acting on that, and it is my personal hope that we can start acting on that with alacrity,” Gunraj explained.
In December 2021, GECOM Chairman Claudette Singh had written Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall to confirm that the electoral body would be unable to hold Local Government Elections in 2021.
She had explained that since the Commission was currently without a Chief Elections Officer, who by law is required to manage the conduct of elections in Guyana, GECOM was “unable” to have the elections held at that point in time. However, after a rigorous process, GECOM has since hired Vishnu Persaud as the new CEO.
GECOM still has to fill the posts of Deputy CEO and other senior management vacancies.
These senior posts within GECOM became vacant after former CEO Keith Lowenfield, his deputy Roxanne Myers, and former Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo were fired for attempts to sway the results of the 2020 General and Regional Elections. They are currently before the courts facing electoral fraud charges.
LGE are constitutionally due every two years in Guyana, and were last held in 2018. However, given the fiasco that played out following the 2020 General and Regional Elections, the local Government polls were deferred to 2021.
At the last LGE in November 2018, 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.