A brief meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ended yesterday with no decision made about the myriad issues facing the Commission.
“No. No decisions,” Commissioner Desmond Trotman said in response to a question from this newspaper.
Stabroek News has previously reported that a new Official List of Electors (OLE) was necessary not just for Local Government Elections but for by-elections in two Local Government Areas (LGA).
Local Government Elections are due at the end of 2021 but Stabroek News has learnt that in two Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) from the 2018 elections there exist vacancies for Constituency Councilors.
Constituency 6 of Aberdeen/Zorg-en-Vlygt NDC is currently without a representative. The Councillor who previously held that seat was John Walcott of APNU. The other vacancy exists in the Malgre Tout/Meerzergeen NDC.
The reasons for the two vacancies remain unclear but the Local Authorities (Election) (Amendment) Act prescribes that in such a situation the Clerk of the Council shall inform the Commission which shall instruct the Chief Election Officer to hold a by-election.
Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers last week confirmed that the Commission has been informed of the vacancies and explained that the Secretariat is currently awaiting instructions.
At the centre of the delay is the absence of an OLE. The last OLE was issued by GECOM on February 2, 2020 and expired six months later.
According to Myers the Commission is currently debating whether to update the OLE for the entire Country or the OLE for the specific Local Government Areas which require by-elections.
