The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) continues to rely heavily on public scrutiny to fulfil aspects of its mandate
Stabroek News has reached out to members of the Commission to ask what systems have been put in place to verify statements made on each candidate’s Statutory declaration ahead of the March 2 General and Regional Elections (GRE).
The veracity of these declarations became the centre of a protracted legal battle following the 2018 No Confidence vote and culminated with the resignation of six parliamentarians who were ineligible to sit in the Assembly as they were Citizens of another country.
According to Article 155 (1) (a) of the Constitution “No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who is, by virtue of his or her own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.”
Despite this provision, candidates from all major political parties have routinely declared that they are aware of the provisions of the article and are eligible to be elected as a Member of the National Assembly at the election even as they held dual citizenship.
According to a source at the commission, GECOM is simply incapable of verifying the information.
“We have spoken about it but for now we remain heavily reliant on public scrutiny. It is impossible for us within three days to verify whether one or two among hundreds of Candidates are dual citizens,” they explained.
Friday is Nomination Day at which point the contesting parties present their lists of candidates.
According to electoral law each political party contesting on March 2 is required to submit a list of no more than 45 candidates for at least six geographical constituencies and one National Top Up list of at least 42 Candidates. Acknowledging that all Candidates on the National Top up list can appear on at least one Geographical list, each party could submit as many as 270 candidates whose qualifications must be verified.
“It’s a daunting task for which we don’t have a mechanism,” the source shared with this newspaper.
The responsibility therefore rests with members of the public to examine the list once they are publicly posted and inform the commission of any discrepancies they may have noted.
Aside from dual citizenship, persons are disqualified from sitting in the National Assembly if they cannot read the English Language, are certified insane or of unsound mind, if they are serving a sentence of imprisonment longer than six months or if within the last five years they have been convicted of either inciting racial violence or committing electoral fraud.
There is no law prohibiting someone who has been charged with a crime from contesting an elections in fact according to both the constitution and the Representation of People’s Act Chapter 1:03 a person is disqualified as an elector or elected member of the National Assembly for five years if they are convicted of an offence relating to excitement of hostility or ill-will against any person or class of persons on the grounds of his or their race; or (ii) has been convicted by a court of any offence connected with an election that is so prescribed or has been reported guilty of such an offence by the High Court in proceedings.
In such a case the commission again does not have a mechanism to ensure they are informed of the existence of any such persons.
“In Guyana such a person is likely to be the subject of public notoriety so again the public is likely to inform the commission,” it was explained.
