Assuring voters that they would never join APNU+AFC or the PPP/C for government positions but will work for unity, the three small parties which have joined their lists in a ground-breaking move yesterday set out how they would share any seats won at the March 2nd general elections.
“It sends a symbolic message that the unity we are seeking in the country is being expressed by this agreement. The message is we need cooperation,” Presidential Candidate of ANUG Ralph Ramkarran yesterday said at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
A New and United Guyana (ANUG), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM) are the three parties that have partnered in this historic move.
“This [signing] is demonstrating to the Guyanese people as to what it takes to make sure this country is united…what you see before you here is part of that paradigm shift,” LJP Leader Lenox Schuman added. TNM Presidential Candi-date Asha Kissoon said “We want to make sure that every vote counts.”
Kissoon, Ramkarran and Schuman signed the document yesterday on behalf of their respective parties at a ceremony that was held at the Georgetown Cricket Club, Bourda.
The parties will today meet with GECOM to hand over a copy of their signed document.
Shuman said that he believes that there would have been a greater effect if other smaller parties had joined the cause and was disappointed that Change Guyana and The Citizen-ship Initiative, among others, did not take up the offer by the three parties.
According to Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act, two or more lists of candidates shall be joined for the distribution of seats (but not for the purpose of voting) if the representative and deputy representative of each list to be so joined gives notice accordingly in writing to the Chief Election Officer not later than the 25th day before election day. It adds that lists so joined are to be referred to collectively as a combination of lists. ANUG had previously announced a collaboration with the Federal United Party (FED-UP) but on Nomination Day, the proposed coalition collapsed.
Last month the three parties agreed to join their Lists of Candidates so that the votes they secure at the March 2nd general and regional elections could be counted collectively and improve their chances of securing parliamentary and regional seats. With the general elections likely to be close, the three parties could conceivably end up holding the balance of power in the next parliament.
The parties will contest the polls separately but in tabulating votes for the allocation of seats in the National Assembly and on the Regional Democratic Councils, their votes will be combined. “Any party getting 2,000 votes does not get a seat so that’s a waste of those votes but a combination list with 6,000 votes has won a seat and more importantly has prevented either APNU+AFC or the PPP/C from winning that seat,” a source close to the process had explained to Stabroek News.
The details of how the seat(s) will be split between the three were explained in the MoU along with the guidelines for their actions in the National Assembly.
“After the elections are held and the official results are declared, the parties will calculate the number of seats to the National Assembly earned by each party in relation to the votes obtained by each party. Any party or parties which has earned sufficient votes so as to be entitled to seats in the National Assembly based on the votes obtained in the elections will nominate the members of parliament for the number of seats to which it is entitled in a procedure to be determined by the Guyana Elections Commission. Where a party wins one or more regional seats but its overall votes earned by that party show that it is entitled to a top up seat, it shall be entitled to nominate a member of the National Assembly for that seat,” the document states.
“Where the leftover votes of each party cumulatively entitle the combination of parties to one or more additional seats, the seat or seats will be shared by the parties in proportion to the leftover votes contributed by that party toward the additional seat or seats as follows:
The party with the largest number of leftover votes will be entitled to nominate the first member of the National Assembly who shall serve the length of time that is derived from (the proportion of votes).
The parties with the second and the third largest number of votes will be entitled to nominate the second and third members of the National Assembly in accordance with the principle set out at paragraph 4…
Each member of the National Assembly who is appointed by one of the parties, pursuant to the leftover votes obtained by the three parties, will resign as a member of the National Assembly at the time determined by the combination of parties immediately before the convening of the National Assembly.
“The parties undertake that in respect of the seat or seats shared among them by leftover votes, the occupant of that seat shall vote in Parliament only with the approval of all three parties and otherwise shall abstain from voting,” the MoU states.
And the three parties have reiterated that they will never join the party that wins the elections.
“The parties agree that under no circumstances will they join the government of the party that obtains the plurality or majority for the purpose of obtaining ministerial or other governmental office or to give a minority government a majority,” the agreement states.
But each party is given the room to retain their respective identity and independence and thus can continue to work towards their own policy realizations.
“The parties shall be free at any time and any place to independently advance and propagate the central issues of their campaign,” the MoU says.
Further it adds, “The parties may in their discretion mount joint campaigns wherever and whenever possible.”
Ramkarran pointed to a clause in the document where he says the parties may cooperate with each other and coordinate their Election Day activities to avoid duplication as he stressed, “It is a MoU which sets up the basis of our cooperation.”
