Revamping the Carter-Price formula for the composing of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was yesterday raised by visiting United States government official Barbara Feinstein with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Feinstein, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, floated the matter during a meeting with Jagdeo at which US Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch was present.
Revamping the formula, which had been intended for use only in the 1992 general elections, has been cited as vital by a number of observer groups over the years. The recommendations in the main have called for de-politicising of the body via the appointment of competent members of civil society rather than politicians. Analysts say that Feinstein’s raising of this matter is a sign that Washington is expecting deeper electoral reforms to address a range of matters that have beset elections here. Revamping the formula for selecting the chairperson and members of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was not among the electoral amendments circulated last year by the governing PPP/C for public discussion.
Jagdeo yesterday held a press conference to report on his meeting with Feinstein during which he revealed the discussion on the current GECOM formula, which allows three members to be nominated by the government and three by the opposition. The chair is then chosen by the President from a list submitted by the Opposition Leader.
“I pointed out to the Deputy Assistant Secretary that the threat (of rigged elections) did not come from the political body (GECOM). The threat came from the technical staff of the secretariat. That is where in complicity with APNU they sought to rig the elections. So had we not had the 3:3:1 formula, today we would have had an illegal government in office with results declared that had no basis on how people voted. And so we have to be very cautious about these matters,” Jagdeo said.
He said that “in the final decision” government “will be very conscious of the 2020 period” and that “any amendment with that formula will have to be replaced with some solid safeguards that ensure that elections cannot be rigged by illegal actions by the technical people. We still have an open mind but that is not going to happen by … sitting down with APNU on this.”
Jagdeo contended that evidence of government’s commitment to electoral reform and that the citizens’ views are important in decision-making is evidenced in having public recommendations to guide redrafting of amendments to Guyana’s main elections law.
The Vice President announced that the amendments can be tabled possibly as soon as the next sitting of the House.
“That is why the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) has been out in the public domain for several months now. We have received recommendations, we are in the process of looking through those recommendations, redrafting the legislation to be tabled in the next sitting of the parliament and that legislation will be debated there. That will help to boost transparency around the elections and tabulation of the results”, he said.
The government released the draft amendments on November 5, 2021, and set a six-week period for review, comment and to propose additional amendments. That process ended mid-December with no announcement of an extension. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira subsequently told Stabroek News that consultations would continue as amendments were also being drafted to the National Registration Act.
Jagdeo said yesterday that Teixeira has been tasked with compiling all of the recommendations and government will examine them and select which would be used. “We are going through that process,” Jagdeo said.
Jagdeo said that amendments to ROPA were necessary for the overall transparent process of elections here.
In this way, he said persons will have a clear understanding of what is expected and there will be no room for pleading ignorance of processes. “People cannot say I do not know,” he said.
It is not known if other elections-related matters were raised by Feinstein with Jagdeo.
Set the record straight
Much of Jagdeo’s presentation at the press conference yesterday was aimed at rebutting statements made by PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton in his meeting with Feinstein a day earlier.
Norton had told Stabroek News that they discussed the voters’ list, internal security concerns, the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy and persecution of civil society members along with other areas.
“I did not want many of the issues he released to be seen as gospel and as if we did not have a position on them…lest there be any doubts,” Jagdeo yesterday told the press conference following the meeting with Feinstein at the Office of the President.
“One of the reasons I wanted to do this…is because Mr. Norton took the step of releasing his speaking notes to the media,” Jagdeo said.
The Irfaan Ali government’s commitment to and strengthening of democracy here was relayed to Feinstein as Jagdeo said he sought to juxtapose examples of both the PPP’s and PNC’s actions when it comes to addressing democracy and overall governance.
“I said to the Deputy Assistant Secretary that the People’s Progressive Party is committed to working with all of Guyana, all the political parties, and the international community in strengthening our democracy,” Jagdeo said.
“This is not an alien value to the PPP. That we have, consistently from the beginning of the party, fought for and defended democracy. I pointed out the track record of the PNC on this matter. I pointed out that from the period in 1964 to 1992 they stayed in office through rigged elections and that the United States did not have to take my word for it; they can find evidence of this in many reports issued by successive US governments, CIA Reports, Lord Avebury Reports…there are enough documents to support this. I said that party had not changed because the first chance it got at getting back into government it sought to rig the elections…,” he added.
And while Norton told Feinstein that Guyana cannot have democracy because it has a bloated voters’ list, Jagdeo said the PNCR leader did not explain the situation in its entirety or provide background on the issue.
The PNCR has been advocating for a new voters’ list, arguing that the existing one is bloated.
“I said that you cannot have democracy with a bloated list [because] it won’t be a reflection of the electorate and therefore there is a need for change. For you to be considered a democratic society, the list has to reflect the population so that the results will reflect the will of the population,” Norton told Stabroek News on Thursday.
For Jagdeo, there is no bloated list but the list reflects persons who have migrated and those who have died, with the former still legally able to vote. He said that eliminating residency requirements was agreed to by both parties. But the PNC cannot be trusted and the PPP would not be “duped again,” Jagdeo contended. He said that back in 1997 both parties agreed that voter identification cards would be used but after the PNCR lost it went to court to challenge the very constitutionality of the cards.
“I don’t trust them. We (are) not tying any bundle with them. The people of this country have to decide through the public consultations,” he said.
“So, this whole issue about a bloated voters’ list is a smokescreen for their attempt to rig the elections. I pointed out that we are going to work with the international community and all the parties, including APNU in the parliament, to strengthen the laws surrounding the conduct of election, to remove discretion and the room for capricious behaviour by any elected official,” the Vice President said.
