Constitution, law prohibit independent candidates under Proportional Representation system- Nandlall

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 June 2025, 19:12 by Writer

Guyana’s Constitution and the Representation of the People Act do not provide for independent candidates to contest general elections under the Representation of the People Act (RoPA).

“It does not accommodate one-man candidacies, and that is by deliberate design, not inadvertence or oppression,” Attorney General Anil Nandlall said in his submission in response to a case brought by civil society activist, Christopher Ram.

Mr Ram is relying on Article 160(2)(a) of Guyana’s Constitution which states that “a person may stand as a candidate for election in any such geographical constituency only if, in such manner as Parliament may prescribe, he or she has declared that he or she supports, or has otherwise identified himself or herself with one and only one of the lists related to that geographical constituency, not with a list in any other geographical constituency, and not with any lists of another party.”

Acknowledging that the RoPA does not provide for individuals to contest the polls, he wants the High Court order to modify that law to give effect to the right to individuals to stand as and to elect independent candidates in geographical constituencies to the National Assembly.

But Mr Nandlall counters Mr Ram’s submission, saying the Constitution, properly construed, establishes a system of proportional representation based on a party-list system for the election of members to the National Assembly, and confers no right nor creates a mechanism for independent or individual candidates to contest without being part of a list.

The Attorney General says that, as a result, the RoPA which requires candidates to be part of a list of a political party, faithfully implements the letter and spirit prescribed by the Constitution.

Mr Nandlall said if there was public desire for independents to contest, this would have been raised and reflected in the 1999 constitutional reform consultations and/or in subsequent amendments. Instead, since 2001, he said multiple general elections have occurred under the party-list system without any legislative move to introduce independent candidates. “It was not until the Applicant’s present litigation that this issue was formally raised, and the party list system challenged,” he said.

The Attorney General said Mr Ram engaged in “convenient cherry-picking of words” from Article 160(a) to fit his case, a move that defies the well-established principle of statutory interpretation that an Act or other legislative instrument is to be read as a whole so that an enactment within it is not treated as standing alone but is interpreted in its context as part of the instrument.

He said as it stands, every Guyanese citizen has the right to form or join a political party or list and to seek election under that banner; every vote cast contributes to the proportional outcome, and every seat is ultimately filled by an individual from a list reflecting that vote.