While local government elections are due before the end of the year, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Vincent Alexander has said no preparations have been made, making it “virtually impossible” to proceed.
GECOM is currently seeking to fill several key vacancies within its Secretariat, including Chief Election Officer (CEO), Deputy CEO, Assistant CEO, Chief Accountant, Legal Officer, Logistics Manager, and Civic and Voter Education Manager.
The contracts of former CEO Keith Lowenfield and DCEO Roxanne Myers were terminated by the vote of a majority of the Commission. They are currently before a City Magistrate’s Court on various charges alleging misconduct during last year’s general elections, which saw the process to declare a winner extended over a five-month period amidst attempts to manipulate the outcome.
When contacted, Alexander told Stabroek News that the Commission has not yet broached the subject of LGE.
“The Minister [of Local Government and Regional Development] has to inform us [of] the date for the elections and for us to work towards that date. We may have done preparatory works — we should normally do preparatory work because we know the elections are to be called between November and December. Since the CEO left, nothing was done in preparation and as far as I know we have not heard anything from the Minister, so it is virtually impossible for GECOM to be ready for the election at the end of November into December. So it is now a matter for the Minister and Parliament to determine,” Alexander said in a brief comment to the Stabroek News.
He added that the Minister would normally approach Parliament for the postponement of the elections.
‘Awaiting advice’
On Friday, Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall told this publication that he was awaiting GECOM to indicate its readiness to host the elections.
“As far as elections are concerned, you know that GECOM conducts elections right. So we are awaiting GECOM to advise us on its readiness and as soon as they are able to do so, only then we will be able to call a date for the elections, so this is in spite of us budgeting [for LGE],” Dharamlall said.
In the 2021 budget, the government allocated $1.1 billion for the holding of LGE before the end of the year. Some $237.7 million was scheduled to go towards the printing of 500,000 ballots and other publications, while $285.7 million was budgeted for voter education and other programmes. Additionally, $135.7 million was to go towards the training of elections day staff, $81.6 million for rental of buildings to conduct the elections, $75.6 million for meals.
In relation to the budgeted sums, Dharamlall said that the government “thought that by now GECOM would have gotten itself in order but they have not yet been able to get the Secretariat in place and put all the reforms in place to ensure we have Local Government Elections.”
“So, as soon as GECOM is able to advise us on their readiness, then we would be able to have local government elections and whatever the law requires us to do in the interregna, we would abide by and if requires us going to parliament then we will have to do so.”
The governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has faced criticism in the past for not holding local government polls from 1997 to when it was voted out of office in 2015. When the APNU+AFC came into office in 2015, the polls were held in 2016 and again in 2018.
