The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has appointed April 17 as Nominations Day in preparation for the hosting of Local Government Elections (LGE) in May.
Chief Elections Officer Vishnu Persaud made this announcement in a notice published in Guyana Times on Thursday. The notice was to inform all political parties, voluntary groups and individuals who are desirous of contesting the upcoming local government polls that the process to submit their applications for approval of their symbols has been further extended to Friday, March 24, 2023. This exercise was schedule to be wrapped up on March 1, 2023.
Section 48(1) of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03, provides that those contesting the elections be required to submit a symbol for approval by the Elections Commission no later than 21 days before Nomination Day.
Persons are asked to submit their applications via mail or email to the Chairman. Those in outlying Local Authority Areas (LAAs) may submit their symbols to the GECOM Registration Office in their area.
Last October, LGE was set for March 13 this year, but GECOM subsequently deferred the Nominations Day in December 2022 to address issues relating to its registration exercise. This postponement was after court action was filed by Opposition-aligned persons, challenging the process used to compile the List of Electors, or Voters’ List, for the impending LGE.
In February, Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall set Monday, June 12, 2023 as the date for the holding of the much-anticipated and long-overdue LGE in Guyana.
Section 35 (1) of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03, empowers the Local Government Minister to appoint a day for the elections.
The previous week, GECOM Chairperson Justice (retd) Claudette Singh had written the Local Government Minister asking him to set May 22 this year for the conduct of the local polls. Minister Dharamlall responded to the GECOM Chair and indicated that the LGE were set for June 12 instead. Consequently, the Elections Body extended the objections aspect of the Claims and Objections exercise to allow for proper examination of the names on the list.
The previous Claims and Objections period was scheduled to last from February 13 to February 22.
But according to GECOM, in a statement two weeks ago, “Acknowledging the need to allow persons to properly scrutinise the supplementary lists with those names, the Commission decided to extend the duration of the objections aspect of the Claims and Objections exercise until 2nd March, 2023.”
Persons are encouraged to scrutinise the supplementary lists posted in each Constituency/Local Authority Area (LAA), and to object to the inclusion of the name(s) of any person(s) whom they suspect may not be eligible for inclusion on the list.
Further, GECOM also indicated that a decision was taken to suspend the Cycle of Continuous Registration with effect from February 24 until further notice. The exercise commenced on 3rd January, 2023 and was scheduled to conclude on 31st May, 2023. However, this decision was necessary to facilitate the inclusion of all eligible persons who have registered thus far under Continuous Registration in the respective Registers of Voters (RoV) for the upcoming Local Government Elections.
The seven-member Commission, after deliberations, ultimately decided to suspend the registration exercise, based on a proposal and advice submitted by the Chief Election Officer, in order to ensure the inclusion of all eligible persons in the final Registers of Voters. GECOM noted that in order to facilitate the inclusion of those persons in the RoV, the Commission would have to compile supplementary lists by constituency and post them for public scrutiny.
Government-nominated GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj had told reporters during a briefing that over 2000 persons were captured thus far in the exercise to the register of registrants in preparation for the local government polls. In addition to the people who registered during continuous registration, Gunraj said, claims and objections also resulted in 500 applicants.
GECOM had announced it would begin preparing the Register of Voters, from which the Official List of Electors will be drawn. Anyone eligible to be registered as a voter and not on the Preliminary List of Voters was required to make a claim to entry on/or before February 19. There was a requirement that persons objecting to a voter during this period could only do so if they were in the same constituency list as the voter.
LGE, which are constitutionally due every two years, was last held in 2018. At the November 2018 local government polls, the then PPP/C Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This had followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs. (G8)
