The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) may soon advise the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development that the earliest possible date it could host the overdue Local Government Elections (LGE) is March 6, 2023.
While GECOM administrates elections in Guyana, the responsibility to name a date for local government polls is within the remit of the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development. In this case, GECOM Chair retired Justice Claudette Singh would have to write Minister Nigel Dharamlall informing him of the state of readiness of the commission to execute its mandate.
At yesterday’s statutory meeting, the Commission received an updated LGE work plan from Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud which had a possible polling day of March 6, 2023.
Opposition-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander told Stabroek News that the date may likely remain.
“As you know we have been revising the work plan and today [Tuesday] we had another revision and we will meet hopefully next Tuesday to finalise the plan and decide on the final date. So far March 6 seems to be the date we have and it might remain but there are internal datelines that need to be revised before we approve the plan,” Alexander said.
Alexander said that he hopes next Tuesday’s meeting would see the conclusion of the revision and that the internal datelines are adequately addressed.
“As you know there are some dates by which we are bound by law for and we have to get them right before we can move ahead. For example, we have Disciplined Services voting which cannot happen earlier than 5-10 days before the elections and nothing earlier so we are getting those things right along with some other datelines,” he explained.
Local Government Elections were constitutionally due at the end of last year but GECOM was without a Chief Election Officer and could not have prepared to host the elections. As a result, the Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh, wrote to the government informing it of the situation but did commit to confirming a timeline after the appointment of a CEO.
At the beginning of June, the Commission’s Secretariat released a list of vacancies for “polling day staff for Local Government Elections.” The Commission is looking for Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks, Ballot Clerks/ Counting Assistants and Information Clerks. That process concluded at the end of June. Stabroek News had reported that the Secretariat decided to go ahead with the advertisement for polling day staff to be prepared for whenever the Commission announces a date.
GECOM embarked on a continuous registration process back in March, particularly targeting new applicants. The continuous registration cycle concluded on May 29, 2022, with over 49,000 persons being registered for the first time. A total of 70,041 transactions were conducted during the period. 28,149 were new registrants between the ages of 14 and 17, while 21,130 were new registrants above the age of 18. Additionally, 4,629 persons applied for transfers, 6,526 persons changed or corrected their information, 7,667 applied for replacement identification cards and 1,940 registrants retook their ID photos.
Late last month, the commission also concluded its claims and objections programme in preparation for the elections.
CEO Persaud has been revising his LGE work plan for a number of weeks now.
Justice Singh had told the media that LGE would be held by the end of November this year but it is now clear that the elections are nowhere in sight. Initially, Persaud had proposed December 12 this year as polling day but that was rejected since it fell out of the statutory timeline.
He came back with a date of February 13, 2023, but was asked to further revise it to mid-January. However, the date of March 6 seems to be the settled date since Stabroek News’ sources indicate that the date finds favour with both sides.
After the Commission approves its work plan, it would then indicate its readiness to the Minister of Local Government and the proposed date. The Minister would then, on the advice of GECOM, announce the date for LGE.
Once the date is announced, GECOM would announce nomination day and begin preparation for the procurement of indelible ink, ballot papers and other election-related materials.
