Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Thursday, 20 October 2022, 15:24 by Denis Chabrol
As the Guyana government prepares to hold a national stakeholder consultation on Guyana’s draft electoral laws, the opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) on Thursday again rubbished the move saying it would not address the real problems such a clean voters list, accurate results and high public trust.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance said the stakeholders’ consultation is scheduled for Tuesday October 25, 2022, from 1 PM to 4 PM at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. “This consultation is an integral element of the Government of Guyana’s commitment to implement a consultative, inclusive and participatory process regarding electoral reform,” the government said.
According to the ministry, 157 organisations have been invited to the consultation. These organisations represent a broad cross section of society including political parties, constitutional bodies, civil society organizations in the labour movement, private sector, faith-
based, youth, women, LGBTQ, ethnic/cultural, health and rehabilitation organisations, and other civil society actors.
Government said the stakeholder consultation forms part of a continuous consultative process which began on November 6, 2021 when the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance published the draft Representation of the People’s(Amendment) (ROPA) Bill and the draft Regulations made under the Representation of the People Act on its social media pages.
Since then, government said updated versions of the ROPA Bill and Regulations have been made available once again. and the new draft amendments to the National Registration Act have also been made accessible for public perusal via a link published on the Ministry’s Facebook pages.
At the upcoming consultation, Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Minister of Legal Affairs, will make presentations and lead discussions on the draft amendments to the electoral laws including the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2022, Regulations Made Under the Representation of the People Act 2021, and National Registration (Amendment) Bill 2022.
This consultation will be live streamed on the Department of Public Information Social Media pages.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance said the public was invited to peruse the draft documents and submit feedback to the Ministry within six weeks but, after requests for extensions, the Ministry said it accommodated submissions of feedback well into 2022.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance said recommendations were received from a variety of stakeholders including civil society actors, the Guyana Elections Commission, some political parties, and other interested individuals and organisations.
Government said those recommendations were consolidated and provided to the Attorney General, who in May 2022, facilitated in-person meetings with the respondents.
“The public is invited to tune into these consultations via the livestream to gain more information about the proposed amendments and become further immersed in the legislative reform process. The Government of Guyana remains committed to creating more robust and
coherent elections legislation as part of the constantly developing democratic architecture of our One Guyana,” the ministry said.
But the opposition said the amendments to the Representation of the People Act are insufficient to address key systemic and structural flaws and weaknesses in Guyana’s electoral system. “It continues to recklessly disregard the demand for a clean voters list. The shenanigans of the PPP will not win the trust and confidence of the public, participating parties, and other relevant stakeholders. It is past time for the PPP to stop its nonsense,” the coalition said.
According to APNU+AFC, rather than a “piecemeal, deceitful and self-serving” approach to electoral reform , the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) should focus on urgent and comprehensive electoral reform to ensure there is a clean voters list to ensure that only eligible persons are registered, results accurately reflect the will of those who voted and every step of the election process wins trust and confidence of the public, participating parties and other relevant stakeholders.
For the coalition such reform must include a thorough review by GECOM of its performance in managing recent elections, genuine national consultations involving the public, civil society, and the parliamentary political parties that are modelled after the 1999/2000 Constitution Reform Commission process.
The APNU+AFC restated that there must be a multi-stakeholder/expert committee, a consensus chairperson, a public call for oral and written submissions, and public outreaches and hearing; the in-depth involvement of experts on electoral laws, electoral systems, elections technologies, and elections management, and holistic constitutional and legislative amendments or enactments. “We stand ready to lend parliamentary support to all agreed-to changes,” the opposition amalgam said.
The March, 2020 general and regional elections were marred by several declarations of results for Region/District Four that had prompted a number of court battles before and after the national vote recount which led eventually to the PPP being declared the winner.
The APNU+AFC, however, charged that it was deposed out of office through an international conspiracy involving Western Nations and the PPP as well as massive rigging on the East Coast Demerara.