Even though a verification exercise is underway, opposition-appointed commissioners at the Guyana Elections Commission are pleading for specific criteria to be identified for field staff in the demarcation of constituency boundaries.
This position has attracted a contrasting view from government-nominated commissioners. The differing views from commissioners on both sides of the table have resulted in a stalemate affecting deliberations and decision making at the level of the commission.
At last Tuesday’s meeting, opposition-appointed commissioner, Vincent Alexander, said they raised the concern in a bid to avoid the prospect of returning to the fields to execute further work in the demarcation of the boundaries and create further delay.
He stated that while they argued this position, government-appointed commissioners do not believe that is necessary.
According to Alexander, GECOM’s Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh, has taken a position that they await the preliminary report from the field officers before determining whether to set specific criteria.
The report from the exercise is expected to be presented to the commission at the next statutory meeting on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Government-appointed commissioner, Sase Gunraj, told this newspaper that the commission already has established operating procedures in place for such activities.
He stated that this new concern can be viewed as a delaying tactic by the opposition side. Gunraj stressed that the commission has never had to seek guidance for registration officers to execute their field duties.
After much deliberation, GECOM took a decision to embark on a field exercise to confirm the demarcation of constituency boundaries wherever necessary in preparation 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 the GECOM’s Chair’s ruling that Dharamlall’s order is null and void.
The Chief Election Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud, was tasked with conducting field work to map the boundaries of nineteen local authority areas and constituencies within those boundaries.
Alexander had 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 part of an existing constituency due to population growth or shift.
Following a lengthy delay, Local Government Elections were scheduled for March 13 next year but arguments over constituencies and how lists were to be extracted for the polls point to a setback in the scheduled elections’ timeline.
