Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan has committed to move immediately on legislative amendments needed for the run off of local government polls, the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) announced on Friday.
The announcement was made following a meeting between a senior team from the Ministry of Com-munities, led by Bulkan, and Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield and a senior team from Gecom to clarify issues relative to the conduct of the polls.
The new government has repeatedly expressed the hope that the local elections will be held before the end of this year. The polls, although constitutionally due every three years, have not been held since 1994.
According to a statement issued by Gecom on Friday, Lowenfield highlighted to the Minister the need for prerequisites for the polls, which are outside of the remit of Gecom, to be addressed conclusively.
It said Lowenfield made it abundantly clear that Gecom cannot proceed to prepare a Preliminary Voters’ List for the conduct of Claims and Objections for the purpose of finalising the respective voting registers needed for polls in the 65 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and the six Municipalities due to the need for an amendment.
“The existing legislation relative to the preparation of the Preliminary List of Voters requires that the Lists be prepared from the Official List of Electors that was used for the 1992 General and Regional Elections. This legislation must be amended to clear the way for the Lists to be extracted from the up-to-date National Register of Registrants,” it added.
Gecom said the proposed draft amendment, among others, has already been prepared in one document which was discussed and fine-tuned between Gecom’s legal Officer and the Chief Parliamentary Counsel of the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
Accordingly, Gecom said it is imperative that it be made abundantly clear that until and unless it is given the legal authority to extract the Preliminary List of Voters, the Commission cannot move forward with its work plan for the holding of the polls.
The statement said also Lowenfield pointed out to Minister Bulkan that in addition to the need for the amendments to come into force, the Minister of Com-munities is also required to issue an order declaring the Local Authority Areas in which the elections will be held.
According to Gecom, Lowenfield emphasised that housing communities at the municipalities of Corriverton, Anna Regina and the Bartica NDC had grown beyond their respective boundaries. “He emphasised that the authority to extend the boundaries of these Local Authority Areas is vested in the Minister of Commu-nities and urged that this matter be addressed with alacrity towards ensuring that the concerned citizens are given the opportunity to participate in the Local Government Elections,” the statement added.
In response to the CEO’s presentation, Gecom said Bulkan gave the assurance that his Ministry will move immediately after Gecom green-lights the draft amendments to have them approved by Parliament. Further, he gave the assurance that his Ministry will move to address the publication of the Order declaring the Local Authority Areas in which local government elections will be held, as well as the concerning the boundaries of the municipalities of Corriverton, Anna Regina and the Bartica NDC.
The ministerial team at the meeting included Emile McGarrell, Perma-nent Secretary and Derek Kowlessar, Advisor to the Minister, while the Gecom team included Vishnu Persaud, Deputy Chief Election Officer, Juanita Barker, Legal Officer and Duarte Hetsberger, Personal Assistant to the CEO.
