Though he acknowledged that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has a lot of work to do, opposition-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander is sure it can be ready to hold local government elections (LGE) between November and December of 2021.
“I’m quite sure GECOM has the capacity, given the time involved, to address the question of its readiness for the prescribed date of LGE,” Alexander said yesterday during a press conference in response to questions from Sunday Stabroek.
He refused to respond to a statement from Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon which called for the urgent commencement of house-to-house registration to create a new electoral register.
He also declined to directly address comments from President Irfaan Ali and Attorney General Anil Nandlall which suggest that the polls will not be held next year.
On Monday, Ali told reporters that the polls will not be held until the issues which are currently affecting GECOM are fixed.
“…What we have to do is to fix what is there first and we have to ensure that we have a system that is working and a system that people trust and a system that is professional and a system that operates in an unbiased manner so that the people of our country can contribute,” Ali said.
A similar sentiment was expressed by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who told Stabroek News that the holding of the polls next year seems unlikely given the current elections petitions, a call by the opposition for a new voters’ list and police probes of officers of the electoral body.
“By law, local government elections are due next year, but from all indications it does not appear that GECOM will be in a state of readiness for several reasons…,” Nandlall had said.
According to Alexander, GECOM is a constitutional body with a constitutional mandate.
“It is not constitutional for other bodies to dictate to GECOM what should or shouldn’t happen. LGE dates are prescribed and the function of calling elections rests with the Local Government Minister,” he explained.
Alexander noted that GECOM has always had things which needed to be fixed yet Guyana has held elections without fixing those things. He cited as an example the list of electors, which he reminded was based on a bloated list of registrants.
“There are people who have argued and insisted that we go to elections with a bloated list. Yes there are things to fix. The same people who want to fix them now resisted them being fixed previously,” he said.
According to the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, LGE shall be held once every three years on any date during November 1st to December 7th of the third year, counting from the year in which the term of office of the council started. The date shall be appointed by an order of the Minister of Local Government. Since they were last held on November 11, 2018, the elections are legally due in 2021.
