GECOM “unable” to host LGE this year – Chair tells Govt

…says local Govt polls will be held after appointment of new CEO

The much-anticipated Local Government Elections (LGE), which were scheduled for this year, have officially been postponed since the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is currently in the process of filling several senior posts, including that of the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) and is, therefore, not in a state of readiness to host any elections.

This was confirmed by Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh.
Last week, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall had written to the GECOM Chair asking her to confirm that the LGE could not be held this year so that the necessary local authority bodies could be officially informed and the subject minister could take the necessary actions as required by law.
In response, Justice Singh, in a letter dated December 3, 2021 which was seen by Guyana Times, indicated that GECOM was aware of its legal requirement to hold the local Government polls this year.
However, she explained that since the Commission was currently without a Chief Elections Officer, who is required by law to manage the conduct of elections in Guyana, the electoral body was “unable” to have the elections held at this point in time.
“As you are aware, the Commission is currently working to conclude the hiring process of the Chief Elections Officer and other senior management staff. Please be assured that as Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, I will communicate with you on the timeline at which Local Government Elections could be held when the Chief Elections Officer is hired,” the GECOM Chair further stated in her missive to the AG.
Moreover, Justice Singh further reassured that the Elections Commission was working to resolve this issue within the shortest time.
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.
Only Monday last, the seven-member Elections Commission interviewed the two shortlisted candidates – former Deputy CEO Vishnu Persaud and former Jamaican electoral official Leslie Harrow.
Meanwhile, Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall has already written to the various local authority bodies including Regional and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils as well as Town Councils to inform them of the impracticability of hosting the LGE this year, given GECOM’s unpreparedness.
After assuming office in August 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government had reassured that local Government polls would be held and had even set aside some $1.1 billion in GECOM’s 2021 budget for the hosting of LGE. This sum includes $237.7 million for the printing of 500,000 ballots and other election materials as well as $285.7 million for voter education and $135.7 million for the training of elections staff.
In fact, President Dr Irfaan Ali, during a press conference a few months ago to mark his Administration’s one-year anniversary in office, had said local Government polls was still on Government’s agenda and GECOM needed to advise on its readiness.
But the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition has been maintaining that while it wanted LGE to be held, the voters’ list needs to be cleansed. The coalition is also pushing for a House-to-House registration exercise to be conducted.
Meanwhile, Opposition-nominated Commissioner at GECOM, Vincent Alexander, had said during a television programme last month that if the LGE were not held this year, then they could be postponed until the fourth quarter of 2022. He had explained that when LGE were not held as constitutionally due, Parliament in the past had postponed the elections for one year.
LGE are constitutionally due every two years in Guyana and were last held in 2018. However, given the elections fiasco that played out following the 2020 General and Regional Elections, the local Government polls were deferred to this year.
At the last LGE in November 2018, the then PPP/C Opposition 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.
After the 2018 LGE, GECOM spent over a year trying to get ready for snap elections that should have been held within three months of the then APNU/AFC Government falling to a No-Confidence Motion in December 2018.
Those elections were finally held over a year later on March 2, 2020, but were then followed by a tumultuous five-month electoral impasse. The results were eventually declared by GECOM on August 2, 2020, after local and international pressure. (G8)