ANUG to take legal action on joinder system if GECOM fails to make acceptable decision

Last Updated on Thursday, 19 June 2025, 23:07 by Writer

The opposition A New and United Guyana (ANUG) on Wednesday said it would seek the High Court’s interpretation on how the joinder system for political parties should work if the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) continues its now more-than-two-year-long failure to decide.

Deputy Chief Elections Officer Aneal Giddings told reporters after meeting with representatives of more than 20 political parties that concerns by smaller parties about how the workings of the little-used joinder system, catered for under the Representation of the People Act, would be put before the seven-member Commission’s next statutory meeting on Tuesday.

“A lot of questions were asked about this issue. We consider it a burning issue now. What I promised the parties is that at the next statutory meeting of the Commission, we will raise it as a matter that needs to be addressed, a matter of concern. At this point in time we do not have an answer,” he said. Asked why the issue remained unresolved for the past two years, he merely reiterated that the issue would be put before the commission.

ANUG Leader Dr Mark France told Demerara Waves Online News that he would await GECOM’s deliberations before deciding if there should be legal action for definitive interpretations on whether or not the joinders’ parliamentary representative should be one person or rotating and how the Representative of the List should be chosen. “We need for GECOM to give us a clear position and then, based on that, whether or not ANUG agrees with it, we can decide if we take it to court,” he said.

He assured that his party was prepared to “live” with the outcome of a decision such as if the party with the largest number of votes should hold the parliamentary seat for the entire term or it could be split among the joinder parties to increase exposure of the parties and their members.

Dr France lamented GECOM’s slothfulness of addressing the issue after The New Movement’s (TNM) Leader Dr Asha Kissoon broke her accords with ANUG and the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and refused to resign her seat from the National Assembly to make way for ANUG.

Days after President Irfaan Ali’s announcement of September 1 as election day, she endorsed him and the incumbent People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) for another term.

The LJP, with the highest number of votes had served a specified period of parliamentary representation and ANUG which, in good faith, had agreed to give TNM the next turn.

Dr France said there should be no “conflicting reports” and further foot-dragging by GECOM on how the system progresses. While his party’s decision to contest the polls separately or with other parties would not hinge on a resolution of the issue, the ANUG Leader said the High Court could decide on that in the run-up to the elections.

He also said GECOM should not await a political party’s move to the court but the electoral management authority could on its own accord apply for a judicial interpretation because the Commission is divided. “If the advice is for the matter to go to court, then GECOM, on their own, given that this is a matter of national importance, take it to the court for clarifications, given that they are an interested party, given they are the ones that safeguard the election process,” he said.

Nomination Day is July 14.

Almost identical concerns about a lack of information on how the joinder system should work were raised by Pastor Nigel London of the People’s Movement, and the Alliance For Change.

The People’s Progressive Party Civic and the People’s National Congress Reform representatives emerged from the meeting, voicing no concerns about the information that was provided to them.

The Representation of the People Act states that two or more lists of candidates shall be joined for the distribution of seats but not for the purpose of voting if the representative and deputy representative of each list to be so joined formally notifies the Chief Election Officer no later than the 25th day before election day. Lists so joined are referred to collectively as a combination of lists.

In the 2020 general and regional elections, LJP, ANUG and TNM had collectively won 5,214 votes.