Less than one day after the APNU+AFC announced that it will not be participating in the national stakeholders’ consultation on the draft amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws, it has now backpedalled on that position by announcing that it will be taking part.
The announcement was made by the Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance will be spearheading the consultation on Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. According to the ministry, the consultation forms part of a continuous consultative process which began on November 6, 2021, when the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance published the draft Representation of the People (Amendment) (ROPA) Bill and the draft Regulations made under the Representation of the People Act on its social media pages.
The public was invited to submit feedback to the Ministry within six weeks. However, after requests for extensions, the Ministry accommodated submissions of feedback well into 2022.
Some 157 organisations have been invited to participate.
“The AFC stands committed to electoral reform and is going to be present at the consultation on the 25th of October 2022 at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre primarily for the purpose of discerning the intention of the PPP’s proposed set of amendments and why not others. It will do so in collaboration with its parliamentary partner APNU,” Ramjattan said.
He added that the APNU+AFC will be represented by himself and Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde.
Ramjattan said that the AFC would like to see a GECOM that is made up of an additional three members who are to be from outside of political parties, but whose names must be agreed to by the President and Leader of the Opposition. He is hoping that the recommendation will be taken on board as the government finalizes the amendments to the various electoral laws.
Currently, GECOM is made up of the Chair, who is appointed by the President after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition, and three Commissioners each from the government and opposition. Several election observer missions have called for a change in the composition of GECOM.
Ramjattan’s announcement comes after the APNU+AFC on Thursday, issued a statement saying that will not be participating in the process. In a statement, the party noted that the government should “face the reality” that the public has rejected both its amendments to RoPA and its “so-called” public consultations on electoral reform.
“This rejection is informed by the fact that the PPP’s approach is piecemeal, deceitful, and self-serving. It totally fails to address key systemic and structural flaws and weaknesses in our electoral system. It totally avoids any consideration of major constitutional, statutory, administrative, operational, and technological reforms.
“For the opposition, local, regional, and national elections must meet three objectives: (i) only eligible persons must be registered—that is, we must have a clean voters list, (ii) results must accurately reflect the will of those who voted, and (iii) every step of the election process must win the trust and confidence of the public, participating parties, and other relevant stakeholders. Meeting these three objectives requires that Guyana must embark on urgent and comprehensive electoral reform,” the statement said.
It added that comprehensive electoral reform must include the following components a thorough review by GECOM of its performance in managing recent elections; genuine national consultations involving the public, civil society, and the parliamentary political parties; the in-depth involvement of experts on electoral laws, electoral systems, elections technologies, and elections management, and holistic constitutional and legislative amendments or enactments.
