The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will embark on a field exercise to confirm the demarcation of constituency boundaries wherever necessary as it prepares for Local Government Elections.
The decision to engage in the field work comes on the heels of the controversial Order 50 of 2022 promulgated by the Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall and GECOM’s Chair, Justice Claudette Singh’s [ret’d], ruling that Dharamlall’s order is null and void.
At a meeting of commissioners yesterday, both sides arrived at the consensus that Chief Election Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud will conduct field work to map the boundaries of 19 Local Authority Areas. Government-appointed Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, explained to Stabroek News that the CEO will conduct the field exercise ‘in the shortest possible time’ and report his findings to the commission. He will be working with regional Ministry of Local Government offices and assistant Chief Scrutineers of political parties. Gunraj yesterday said while government-appointed commissioners have no objection to the position taken, they maintain the minister has the right to undertake the changes made. At a press conference on November 25th, Dharamlall said that for better representation, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government had decided to revert to the boundaries used at the 2016 polls.
Opposition-appointed Commissioner Vincent Alexander, in reacting to the decision by the GECOM Chair, said it is a step in the right direction. He said his fellow opposition commissioners, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman, have registered their concerns that the field exercise is not one to review the changes made by ministerial reconfiguration of the constituencies.
“We don’t want those actions to confirm or to justify the minister’s action because that is null and void. The focus must not be to create a constituency,” he said. In the exercise, GECOM’s officers must revisit the boundaries where changes were made in accordance with the Minister’s order. Oppo-sition-appointed Commis-sioners had strongly argued the case that the minister does not have the powers to demarcate boundaries of Local Authority Areas and Constituencies and by doing so he acted in contravention of the constitution.
GECOM, while res-ponding to media reports two weeks ago, said the powers given to the minister and the commission differ and do not conflict. In the statement, Singh explained that the minister has the power to divide Guyana into areas as provided for, considering the factors specified by Article 72(2) of the Constitution in defining the boundaries of those areas. This includes the power to define and modify the boundaries of neighbourhoods, people’s co-operative units within those neighbourhoods, and establish local democratic organs for those. On the other hand, the Commis-sion only has the power to combine or subdivide those divisions within neighbourhoods, and municipalities, to form constituencies, the statement said.
“Addressing some existing concerns regarding the recently gazetted orders of the minister, in which he made changes to the existing Local Authority Areas, and at the same time may have identified changes to those constituencies within the Local Authority Areas, the Chairman pointed out that those changes made to the boundaries of the local authority areas, and any changes to electoral divisions within those Local Authority Areas, are within the legal authority of the Minister,” GECOM had said. But Alexander pointed out that when reconfiguring a constituency, certain criteria must be assessed before setting a boundary. In this regard, it might require extending boundaries of a part of an existing constituency due to population growth or shift. Alexander said that the field exercise should be simple and completed in two weeks after commencement. It will however disrupt GECOM’s current work plan, and as a consequence, the electoral body will have to review its timelines.
Following a lengthy delay, Local Government Elections were scheduled for March 13th next year but arguments over constituencies and how lists were to be extracted for the polls point to a setback in the scheduled election’s timeline.
