The Guyana National Youth Council (GNYC) is involved in consultations to extend its voting process and implement an electronic voting system, in order to expand its voter base.
The GNYC, initiator of the #VoteLikeABoss campaign—an initiative encouraging youth to vote in the 2015 and 2016 general and local government elections—in an effort to enhance its own internal democracy, hosted its first executive election in November.
“GNYC takes note of the low voter turnout for local government elections and reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that despite voter education campaigns which focus on how to vote, civil society groups like GNYC play a vital role in raising enthusiasm in voters, especially youth voters, about getting involved by equipping both youth and their leaders with the tools they need to work collaboratively. But first, we must continue our own work in re-building confidence in our institution,” the council said in a statement.
According to the council, its elections, held November 24, 2018, and which is meant to see the council transitioning from a Steering Committee structure to a full committee, was led by its Interim Chairman Derwayne Wills, along with members of the general administration, planning and constitutional matters committees.
However, though the GNYC boasts a membership of 346, 320 of whom are eligible to vote and contest in the elections, the council reported that a number of positions re-main uncontested, includ-ing for the roles of Secretary, Chairperson for Resource Mobilisation, Chairperson for Sports Development, and Chair-person for Monitoring and Evaluation.
It noted that the reasons these positions went uncontested include the “absence of the nominee on the day of the election preliminary, withdrawal of candidacy, the nominee’s inability to present themselves to the General Assembly on the day of the preliminary election, or member’s inability to register within the specified time so as to form part of the list of electors and ultimately have the power to vote as well as contest for any position”.
GNYC stated that nominations for those uncontested positions will be opened following a consultation between the council’s steering committee and Returning Officer. For those positions that have been contested, namely that of President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Chairperson for Policy and Advocacy, and Chairperson for Inclusion and Regional Participation, voting for these positions will reportedly remain open as the council continues to engage members.
“It is evident from this election preliminary that the voting process in itself, by virtue of the magnitude of GNYC, must take on a more dynamic, extended interface or rather must happen as an extended voting process instead of a one-off activity with a narrow voting window. GNYC will consult with our partners in the Caribbean and the Commonwealth on how to effectively conduct an electronic vote (E-Vote) in a manner that is transparent. GNYC has already been informed that such a platform is being tested by the Commonwealth Secretariat,” the statement said.
It was noted that with an e-system in place, members who had not been present at the November 24 election would soon be able to view the pitches made by the candidates, as well as the question and answer segment recorded.
The new “mixed methods voting system” it was stated, could become the accepted voting procedure for the council in the future.
The letter also noted that the council intends to establish Regional Youth Development Councils (RYDCs) to coordinate the organisation’s work across the 10 administrative regions, however, elections for these Chairpersons have been put on pause.
