– in accordance with GECOM’s work plan
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has set Monday, March 13, 2023, as the date for the hosting of the long-overdue Local Government Elections (LGE) in Guyana.
This was indicated by Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall in correspondence to the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh, on Thursday.
According to Dharamlall, Government is committed to upholding democracy and believes that the holding of local polls is an important pillar in Guyana’s democratic political system. It was against this backdrop that the date for hosting the LGE was decided.
“Please be informed that pursuant to Section 35 (1) of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03, I appoint March 13, 2023, as the day on which elections of Councillors for Local Authorities shall be held,” Minister Dharamlall wrote to Justice Singh.
The Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03, states that elections are held according to the date set by the Minister.
Moreover, it was noted that an order under Section 35 shall be published in the Gazette appointing March 13 next year as the date for the LGE.
Earlier this week, Justice Singh had written to the Local Government and Regional Development Minister, advising him that based on GECOM’s work plan, March 13, 2023, was the earliest date that LGE could be held. In fact, the Commission indicated that the elections could be held anytime between March 13 and April 24, 2023.
On Wednesday, Dharamlall had told Guyana Times that he would be responding to the GECOM Chair soon.
The work plan in question was arrived at by Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, who was tasked by GECOM with coming up with a work plan for the holding of LGE.
At first, that work plan was supposed to be limited to this year end. However, that has since had to be extended amid successive weeks of what has been described by the Government-nominated GECOM Commissioners as delaying tactics at Commission meetings.
LGE are constitutionally due every two years in Guyana and were last held in 2018.
While the polls were due in 2020, the elections fiasco that played out following the March 2 General and Regional Elections that year resulted in LGE being deferred to last year.
But despite some $1.1 billion budgeted in 2021, the GECOM Chair had indicated in September last year that the agency was not in a state of readiness to host any elections since it was in the process of filling several senior posts at the GECOM Secretariat.
Some of those senior posts within GECOM became vacant after former Chief Elections Officer 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.
It was only in December last that the Commission finally completed the appointment of a new Chief Elections Officer in the person of Vishnu Persaud. Then only last month, GECOM appointed Beverley Critchlow as the Assistant Chief Elections Officer (ACEO).
Nevertheless, over the past months, the Elections Commission has been in preparatory mode for the holding of the local polls.
In the missive on Thursday, the PPP/C Government said as part of its commitment, some $2.9 billion has already been allocated to GECOM for preparatory works to ensure the successful planning and execution of LGE.
More than $750 million has been set aside in Budget 2022 for the preparations to be undertaken by GECOM for the hosting of LGE this year.
This money is part of an overall $4.1 billion allocation to GECOM in Budget 2022, and was examined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the 2022 Budget Estimates.
Included in the $783 million for LGE is a more-than-$300 million increase in “other goods and services purchased”, which jumped from $250.8 million in 2021 to $575.9 million in the 2022 Budget.
GECOM only recently concluded its Claims and Objections exercise, which captured more than 3000 new applicants who will be eligible to vote as of October 31, 2022, as well as a total of 18 objections to names on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE). Additionally, there were more than 1800 requests for transfers.
At the last LGE held 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, in which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs.
The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the now main Opposition political party, meanwhile remains tight-lipped on its participation in the next LGE and its minority coalition partner, the Alliance For Change (AFC) is yet to communicate whether or not it would be contesting the polls.
In fact, at a press conference on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton was questioned about APNU’s participation at the LGE, as GECOM continued its preparation for the hosting of the polls.
However, he maintained that the party would not divulge its participation or lack thereof.
“The question of elections has to do with strategy and tactic, and we think strategically we don’t need to say it at this time. We know what we need to say at our membership. We know we have to do – our preparation. We will do that. But we will decide at the right time what we say in terms of participation or non-participation,” he explained.
