The Guyana Elections Commission on Wednesday met with the representatives of ten political parties to advise them of the principles that will govern the delimitation process leading up to the establishment of constituencies for Local Government Elections.
At the meeting participants were reminded that the delimitation process will be guided by the principle that from a policy standpoint the boundaries of the existing Local Government Areas (LGAs) will not be changed for the upcoming Local Government Elections, GECOM said yesterday in a news release.
Some of the factors which are being considered as crucial to the delimitation process were shared with the participants at the meeting, including the existing boundaries; existing patterns of human settlement; population density and communities of interest.
In addition the participants were also apprised of the geographic features; financial and administrative capacity of the respective LGAs; and the financial and administrative considerations which need to be addressed.
The ten political parties that were represented are the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, People’s National Congress Reform, The United Force, Justice For All Party, A Good And Green Guyana, National Republican Party, Guyana National Congress, Good Bless Guyana, People’s Democratic Party and Guyana United Muslim Party.
Written invitations, the release said, were dispatched to all parliamentary and non-parliamentary political parties for their respective chief scrutineers and one other representative to attend and participate at the meeting, which was held at the Conference Hall of GECOM’s Secretariat.
The meeting was arranged on the initiative of GECOM in recognition of the need to keep stakeholders abreast with the Commission’s ongoing preparations for the holding of Local Government Elections.
And after contemplating the information presented to them at the meeting, the participants were invited to submit concerns and suggestions which will serve to inform the delimitation process, and enhance transparency in the delimitation of constituencies for the Local Government Elections and acceptability of the outcomes, the release said.
GECOM representatives at the meeting included Chairman of GECOM, Dr. Steve Surujbally, Commissioner M. Shaw, Chief Election Officer, Gocool Boodoo, Deputy Chief Election Officer, Calvin Benn, Civic & Voter Education Manager, Deolall Ramlall, Voter Registration Manager, Beverley Critchlow, and Logistics Manager, Colin April.
