The Guyana Human Rights Association [GHRA] is insisting that Guyana requires fundamental electoral reforms, principally liberating the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from PPP/PNC bi-partisan domination rather than amending the technicalities in the Representation of the Peoples Act (RoPA) which GHRA claims is not the agenda that Guyana currently needs.
In a press release, the human rights body commended the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs & Governance Gail Teixeira for engaging civil society in holding the current consultation on electoral reform, but was however critical that “amending RoPA suggests that the chaos [that] surrounded Guyana’s 2020 election was something new, rather than the norm”. The human rights body noted that the Carter-Price formula, whereby the Leader of the Opposition presents the President with a list of candidates suited to be Chair of the GECOM, has never been approached with the national interest in mind by either party. While neither party is free from criticism, the antics surrounding the appointment of the current GECOM Chair in 2019 were the most abusive manipulation of it, the release adds.
