Nomination Day: Dual citizens must renounce foreign citizenship to be included on parties’ lists

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has cautioned individuals who are dual citizens to renounce their citizenship to any foreign country if they plan on being candidates for any political party for the upcoming elections.
Speaking at his party’s weekly press conference, Jagdeo said many persons have approached him indicating that they were being asked to join the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party led by US-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed.
“Those who have been coming to me to ask; they have been offered money to go on Mohamed’s list; it is up to them to decide if they want to,” he noted.
Jagdeo referred to Gobin Harbhajan, the former Prime Minister’s Representative in Region Six during the APNU/AFC administration, and Dr Veerasammy Ramayyah, who was a member of the AFC.
“I want to let Ramayyah and the others out there like Harbhajan walking around with lists to let them either give up their dual citizenship or put their name on their lists, and some of the Mohamed’s family as well; let them give up their dual citizenship, and then you will know if they are really committed,” he added.
Ahead of Nomination Day on July 14, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has issued a reminder that any individual who wishes to sit in the National Assembly must renounce their citizenship to a foreign nation. This is in accordance with Article 155(1)(a) of the Constitution, which states that no one is qualified for election to Parliament if they owe “allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state”.
This article was ignored until 2019, when former government MP Charrandas Persaud voted in favour of a no-confidence motion, which was tabled by the then PPP opposition and validly passed in the National Assembly.
A private citizen, Compton Reid, challenged the validity of the vote cast by Persaud in the National Assembly on the basis that he breached Article 155 of the Constitution, which bars MPs from having dual citizenship.
Acting Chief Justice Roxane George then ruled that while Persaud’s vote remained valid since he was a valid MP at the time of his vote, by swearing allegiance to another state, a dual citizen is not qualified to be elected to serve in the National Assembly.
The Court of Appeal has also upheld the constitutional requirement for membership to the National Assembly, namely that dual citizens are not eligible.