Prof. Harold Lutchman is APNU+AFC Representative of the List

Last Updated on Monday, 6 April 2015, 12:10 by GxMedia

Constitutional Lawyer and academic, Professor Harold Lutchman has agreed to be the man to officially say who would sit in the National Assembly after the May 11, 2015 general and regional elections, according to a well-placed prominent official of the opposition coalition.

Disclosure of the name came ahead of Nomination Day- April 7, 2014 when contesting parties will present their candidates to the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield and his team at City Hall. General elections are slated for May 11, 2015.

A well-placed source explained that Lutchman would be the “custodian” of the list, while the politicians would determine the candidates to sit in the National Assembly. “He would be given names signed off by both parties. Thereafter, if a vacancy arises then the respective party will fill it in and the Representative (of the List) would ensure fairness and that the party that lost the seat maintains the right to fill it,” the source told Demerara Waves Online News.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has been guaranteed 12 seats in the National Assembly, win or lose, according to a deal reached with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

The Representative of the List is responsible for submitting the names of candidates to the Chief Elections Officer for extraction so that they could be sworn in as parliamentarians after an election. The head of the list also plays that role if someone has to be replaced due to resignation, death or recall.

Lutchman, a one-time member of the Board of Trustees for the fund of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), was selected from among two nominees.

His selection marks the first time that someone with little or no known political history has been selected to be the Representative of the List of a contesting party.

The other name floated was that of prominent businessman/ politician, Stanley Ming.

Widely regarded as a man of integrity, Lutchman left a top job at the University of the Virgin Islands and returned to serve as Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana for several years.

Professor Lutchman is a former member of Guyana’s Disciplined Forces Commission that had probed the workings of the security forces and made several recommendations.