Breaking his silence on the decision to proceed with the start of national house-to-house registration, Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield has advised the Private Sector Commission (PSC) that the process was based on the directions of the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM) and will continue until further direction is received from a “duly constituted” Commission.
GECOM began the registration exercise on Saturday based on an order, signed by former Chairman James Patterson on June 11th, a week before the June 18th ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which deemed his appointment unconstitutional.
With President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo currently seeking to fill the vacancy, PSC Chairman Gerry Gouveia wrote Lowenfield on Sunday and called for the suspension of the registration exercise until an appointment is made. He also noted that there is “a clear constitutional requirement” for the holding of elections within three months of the validation of the no-confidence motion, which was passed against the government.
In a letter in response, dated July 22nd, Lowenfield stressed that GECOM’s Legal Officer, Excellence Dazzell, advised that since the June 11th Order, based on the directions of the Commission on February 19th, 2019, “was signed and gazetted before the Judgment of the CCJ… it is valid.”
The Order provides for eligible persons to be registered under the house-to-house registration process, which is to run from July 20th, 2019 until October 20th, 2019.
According to Lowenfield, he was advised that “in light of the judgement of the [CCJ] on 18 June 2019, which stated that the process by which Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission was appointed was flawed, every act done by that Chairman (Justice (Rtd) James Patterson) after 18 June 2019 would be void. However, acts done before 18 June 2019 would be valid since those acts would have been done on the premise that the appointment was bona fide.”
“The GECOM Secretar-iat clearly understands the Constitutional requirements and also the legal premise to operationalise a valid Order.
If I am really to understand the basis of your letter that it is unlawful for the Secretariat to proceed with House-to-House Registration in the absence of the Chairman, I take it that I should wait until a Chairman is appointed before I commence the implementation of any preparatory work for the conduct of General and Regional Elections,” he added.
In his letter, Gouveia also voiced concern over “a total absence of consultation” with the political parties’ scrutineers and the absence of political parties’ scrutiny of the registration exercise, which is essential to establishing a credible National Register of Registrants Database (NRRD).
“We cannot have a credible database if these elements are completely absent from the current house-to-house exercise you are embarking on,” he said.
Lowenfield, in turn, contended that the credibility of the exercise and his consultative approach could not be questioned on this premise since at a May 2nd, 2019 meeting of political stakeholders, the People’s Progressive Party headed by Zulfikar Mustapha “explicitly stated that they will not be participating in any deliberation on House-to-House Registration since they are not in agreement with the exercise and ‘walked out.’”
Lowenfield further took Gouveia to task for insinuations of unprofessionalism and claims that he has been avoiding the PSC.
“It is appalling that in your opening paragraph, you sought to create and impression that I, Keith Lowenfield have been avoiding meetings with the
. I have never received any such request for meetings. I have noted that all previous requests for meetings were directed to the Chairman of the Commission. You should produce the evidence of your meeting requests and proof of delivery to my office,” he wrote.
GECOM has deployed thousands of enumerators throughout the country for the registration exercise, which had been called for by the APNU+AFC government as a prerequisite for the holding of polls, while the opposition PPP/C has opposed it, while arguing that it is a tactic aimed at delaying the elections.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has since directed his party’s supporters to not participate in the exercise, while attorney Christopher Ram has sought an injunction to stop it.
