Saying that GECOM should not be blamed for any delay in the holding of the polls, Surujbally yesterday informed Opposition Leader Robert Corbin that recent developments about still-to-be-completed legal reforms cannot be ignored, but warned that further delay would result in expenditure that the commission cannot currently afford. “While we stand resolutely by our deliberate decision to prepare for the conduct of local government elections, we must acknowledge that it is not up to the commission to decide if and when this will be done,” he explained in a letter to Corbin, while adding that GECOM is also conscious of its “greater national responsibility” to ensure due compliance with the Constitution. “It is in this regard that we urge that the relevant stakeholders arrive at an early settlement and clear the way for GECOM to proceed with its work without impediment,” he emphasised.
The letter was copied to President Bharrat Jagdeo, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon, PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar, AFC leader Raphael Trotman, GAP-ROAR leader Paul Hardy and PNCR General Secretary Oscar Clarke.
Last week, Corbin wrote to Surujbally, urging him to ensure that the elections are not held without legislative reforms required under the Constitution. He advised Surujbally to take appropriate action to ensure that the constitutional requirements for a fully reformed local government system are met, prior to the holding of polls. The AFC, meanwhile, also indicated that its participation in the polls would be tied to the implementation of the reforms.
Surujbally, in a response to Corbin yesterday, noted that “information provided to the commission” has signalled the possibility of the government accommodating the demands from the opposition parties. Corbin, following a meeting with President Jagdeo, said he was given an assurance that the opposition’s concerns about the reforms would be discussed at the level of the ruling PPP’s Central Committee.
Corbin, when contacted for a comment on Surujbally’s response yesterday, said he had not received it up to the time he had left his office.
According to Surujbally, GECOM cannot be unmindful of the concerns expressed by the parliamentary opposition parties as well as the indication that government is open to considering the demands for closure on the outstanding legislation reforms prior to the local elections. At the same time, he warned of the “major consequences” that would result if the elections are delayed beyond the scope of the current plan guiding the work of GECOM’s secretariat. In this regard, Surujbally explained that given the funds already spent on the preparations so far, GECOM lacks the financial wherewithal from the current budget allocation to meet the cost of carrying out the tasks which would have to be redone should the elections be delayed.
He noted that there is no guarantee that the personnel already trained to be appointed temporarily to facilitate the conduct of the elections would still be available to GECOM two to three months from now and that there would also be the need to retrain the existing staff if the implementation period is delayed.
Further, the validity of the Registers of Voters for the holding of the elections will expire three months from the date of its certification, which is scheduled for Friday. Should the validity of the registers expire due to any delay outside the scope of the commission’s current work plan, Surujbally noted, a new Claims and Objections exercise will become mandatory. This would necessitate re-establishing the field offices, procuring the relevant materials/equipment, reappointing temporary staff who might or might not be available, advertising for and training new staff for temporary appointments, accrediting scrutineers as appointed by the political parties, and identifying locations for and establishing polling stations, among other things. He added that even if the Registers of Voters were not to become invalid by the time the polls are to be held, it might still become necessary to conduct a new Claims and Objections exercise, since more Guyanese who may not have registered but would have attained the age of 18 years after the existing qualifying date-March 31, 2010–would have to be given the opportunity to register in order to vote at the elections.
As a result, Surujbally declared that GECOM “cannot and must not” be held responsible for any delay of the local government elections.
With the next general and regional elections due in August 2011, Surujbally said, the commission took the decision to focus on preparations for the local government polls upon the completion of the national registration exercise in 2008. The polls would be the first to utilise a new hybrid electoral system. The legislation for the new system was passed last July and subsequently assented to by the President at the end of September. Surujbally said it was not “unreasonable” to conclude that all remaining legislation needed to give effect to the new local government system, would also have been passed before the elections. “GECOM logically proceeded on this basis,” he explained, noting that the government, the international development partners and all of the parliamentary political parties and the public were continuously updated on the status of its preparations.
Corbin, in the letter to Surujbally, emphasised that the reforms are required by the revised Constitution, which specifically requires Parliament to provide the electoral system as well as the criteria for fiscal transfers and revenue earning as well as the establishment of the commission, among other things. Surujbally, however, said that a review of the specific articles of the Constitution left GECOM with “no doubt” that they posed no jeopardy to GECOM’s preparations for and administration of the elections.
Local government elections have been delayed since 1997. From 2001, work has been ongoing to complete the legislative reforms required under the Constitution. After eight years, the Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform was dismantled in favour of a parliamentary select committee review. The proposed laws still before the committee are the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill. Surujbally has suggested that GECOM be allowed to contribute to the deliberations associated with local government reform at the level of the parliamentary select committee.
Meanwhile, he also noted that there may be some deficiencies in the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, which were not addressed in an amendment passed in 2009. The deficiencies include the failure of the law to guarantee the secrecy of the ballots cast by members of the Disciplined Forces, and the absence of a provision for the filling of vacancies created through the departure of a councillor elected via the first-past-the-post component of the elections. “GECOM expects that all such deficiencies should be identified and the relevant legislation be amended accordingly,” Surujbally added.
