Noting that the Carter-Price Formula has outlived its usefulness, President David Granger said on Friday that he favours the involvement of the National Assembly in determining the composition of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
“We are still working under the Carter formula, which is generally agreed to have exhausted its usefulness and it’s like having a cricket match with one umpire from each team. It is not a formula for consensus. It is almost a formula for gridlock. So, there needs to be a change and like other commissions we need to establish new rules,” he said during a press conference on Friday at the Ministry of the Presidency.
The formula affords the two major political parties equal representation on the commission and an appointed chair who enjoys the confidence of both sides. It provides for the appointment of the six members of the commission—three appointed by the President, acting in his own deliberate judgement; and three appointed by the President acting on the advice of the Opposition Leader after meaningful consultation with the opposition parties represented in the National Assembly. Up until the appointment of the current GECOM Chairman, the Chairman was appointed from a list of six persons, who are not unacceptable to the President, submitted by the Opposition Leader after he would have meaningfully consulted with the non-government political parties represented in the Assembly. The constitution caters for a unilateral appointment by the president in prescribed circumstances.