PPP executive Moses Nagamootoo says that any legal challenge in an election year with respect to whether overseas voting is permissible must be treated as “suspect,” and as a tactic designed to postpone general elections.
The issue is one which should not be addressed in 2011, particularly when a date has not been set for the poll, Nagamootoo said. He observed that while people have a right to approach the court for an interpretation of the constitution and redress as allowed under the law, “they ought not to infringe on my right to vote in a year when elections are constitutionally due.”
“In my opinion there is nothing there that requires judicial interpretation… and who in their right mind would approach the court in an election year for such an interpretation?” Nagamootoo asked.
The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) has not yet set a date for the 2011 polls, but concerns have been raised recently about a possible High Court challenge regarding the issue of overseas voting.
In its first edition of the New Year published on Friday last, the Catholic Standard in an editorial made reference to overseas voting, saying that it was another issue which could delay elections if someone decided to go to the court for a legal interpretation.
Referring to issues which could delay the poll, the Catholic Standard had this to say: “Isn’t it very likely that it will be at this point that someone will move to the court to test the issue raised by Ramkarran, namely that overseas based Guyanese have a Constitutional right to vote. Since this involves tens of thousands of people who have a significant influence on the outcome of the election is a judge likely to grant a stay on the holding of elections until the matter is heard?”
Saying he has very strong views on the issue of overseas voting, Nagamootoo told Sunday Stabroek yesterday that overseas based Guyanese are not barred from voting in the general elections.
However, he said it is an issue of residency, noting that Guyanese overseas can vote provided they are registered in a district and are present here to cast their ballot.
He said if any approach is made to the courts prior to a date being announced, “it would be very suspect,” adding that if the move is made after such an announcement the court is not likely to treat it with any urgency.
Speaker of the National Assembly and PPP presidential hopeful, Ralph Ramkarran had called for a restoration of the overseas vote, arguing in February last year that the failure to observe the constitution had resulted in Guyanese resident overseas being denied the right to vote.
But Nagamootoo disagrees with Ramkarran saying that he interprets the constitution to mean that overseas-based Guyanese have to be resident in the country in order to vote.
“I don’t share Mr Ramkarran’s view with respect to overseas voting, though his view may be legitimate. For me, this whole issue of overseas voting should not be addressed at a time like this, not when we are going into an election,” he stated.
Speaking on the issue last year, Ramkarran said that Guyana Constitution provides that every Guyanese over the age of 18 has a right to vote. “It provides for no residency requirement. Thus, whether a Guyanese resides in the USA, UK, Canada, Suriname, French Guiana, Barbados, Antigua or elsewhere, he or she is entitled to vote,” Ramkarran wrote in his weekly column in the Weekend Mirror, February 6 to 7 edition.
He added: “The Elections Commission, which has the constitutional responsibility of ensuring that elections are lawfully conducted, has a duty and responsibility to ensure that constitutional provisions are observed by providing Guyanese, wherever they may be, of the opportunity to vote at elections.”
Ramkarran also acknowledged that the issue is “exceptionally emotive,” noting that overseas voting was “infamously abused” in the elections of 1968 and 1973, before being restricted in 1980 and abolished in 1985. “It was a major device for the rigging of elections with the objective of establishing one party, authoritarian rule. It helped to destroy Guyana’s economy and its good name. We sank into international shame and disrepute,” he said. “But the fact is Guyanese residing abroad have a right to vote under the Constitution.”
But the main opposition party, PNCR had subsequently dismissed the issue as a distraction while the ruling party said that it had taken no decision on the issue.
“I am not arguing for it. This right is provided for in the Constitution. This being so the PNCR and others must then consider whether the voters’ list which is the product of a law, the National Registration Act, which limits registration to residents, is valid. If it is not, it cannot be the basis for free and fair elections,” Ramkarran said in a subsequent letter to the editor.
