Indigenous rights activist and presidential candidate for the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) Lenox Shuman has been struck off the List of Candidates for the March 2, 2020 elections after the seven-member Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) concluded that he still held Canadian citizenship on Nomination Day.
Though he had indicated his desire to renounce his citizenship and told reporters on Nomination Day that the issue was settled, the commission found that Shuman was still a Canadian citizen at the time.
“If someone had not made a proper, correct and authentic declaration and at the time of the date of that declaration was in default then the person was not eligible to be on the Lists…if one is to apply to be on a Candidates list and that application requires a declaration I would assume that at the time of that declaration you have to be in compliance,” government-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander told reporters yesterday.
Stabroek News reached out to both Shuman and his party for comment on the decision but was unable to elicit a response up to press time. A party representative indicated that they had not been formally informed of the decision but have a Plan B and a Plan C which cater for this eventuality.
“I don’t wish to say more at this time but plan B has been activated,” the representative said.
According to Alexander and Opposition-nominated Commissioner Bibi Shadick, Shuman along with Dr Vishnu Bandhu and Valerie Leung will be removed from the list which was erroneously gazetted with them as candidates.
Bandhu is the Presidential Candidate for the United Republican Party (URP) while Leung is a candidate for the Christian-based People’s Republican Party (PRP). Though Leung has been previously identified as the leader, Phyllis Jordan is listed as the Presidential Candidate.
In an interview with Stabroek News yesterday Bandhu had provided documentation to show that he renounced his United States citizenship on January 16. This is however six days after Nomination Day when Bandhu and every other candidate was required to sign a statutory declaration that he was eligible for election to the National Assembly.
Though Bandhu claimed that his legal advisors have said he has done nothing wrong the commission does not agree.
“Who applies for relinquishment today and gets it today? He took the oath on the 16th and gave us a paper which says it was approved on the 16th,” Shadick said.
Article 155(a) of the Constitution specifically disqualifies from election to the Assembly a person who by virtue of his own act is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.
By declaring themselves candidates while citizens of a foreign state, these persons have contravened the provisions of the Statutory Declaration Act and according to the Act have committed a misdemeanour offence for which they could be sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.
It is not clear what criteria were used to establish that these individuals were not qualified as aside from Bandhu they have provided no documentation to that effect. Bandhu had written the commission to indicate that he was in the process of renouncing his citizenship.
Asked if any concerns remain about other candidates who might be citizens of a foreign state, Commissioner Robeson Benn said that they “haven’t heard of any other”.
Both he and Alexander added that the Commission has directed the Chief Election Officer to write the police on the matter.
“The Police should be written in respect of these persons who have made false declarations in respect of their dual citizenship status,” Benn explained.
The former Toshao of the village of Pakuri, Shuman’s launch of the LJP last year had raised the possibility of mobilizing the indigenous vote and peeling away support from both APNU+AFC and the PPP/C. He had been dogged by the question of dual citizenship ever since he entered the race.
Notably Shuman’s party, which for the most part is synonymous with his person, has engaged in the first ever “joinder” of list with A New United Guyana (ANUG) and The New Movement (TNM).
This joiner as provided for in Section 22 of the Representation of the People’s Act has been duly noted by GECOM and published as required by law.
According to the Commissioners, GECOM is however working to set out regulations of how the “joinder” will be operationalized post elections.
“They [the secretariat} have to work out mechanism for selection of the seats. It’s never been used before. Who will chose who occupies the seat or seats…because that’s usually the representative of the list who makes that decision but here we have three representatives of list,” Shadick noted.
