A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith Joseph has moved to the High Court for an urgent hearing challenging the Guyana Elections Commission’s method used in compiling the voters list to be used in the March 13 Local Government Elections (LGE).
The fixed date application which was filed yesterday by her attorney Roysdale Forde, is seeking 21 declarations from the High Court.
The Guyana Election Commission (GECOM), the Chief Election Officer, the Commissioner of Registration, and the Attorney General, are listed as respondents in the affidavit in support of the application and a further affidavit.
Joseph is asking the court among other things to declare that GECOM acted unlawfully in not compiling the Preliminary List of Voters for Local Government Elections in accordance with the Local Authorities Act and the Chief Election Officer and/or the Commissioner of National Registration’s action of extracting a List of Electors pursuant to GECOM’s order was unlawfully prepared pursuant to Section 5 (6) of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act.
The Chief Scrutineer is arguing that GECOM, in its preparation of the current voters list did not act in accordance with the law and the constitution mandate. Through this claim she is alleging that the registration of electors was not done as the act outlines.
“The process employed by the Commission to prepare a Register of Voters for use at the next Local Government Elections has deprived the Electors and or voters of the opportunity to object to persons on the Register of Voters in the manner provided for in and contemplated by Local Authorities (Elections) Act Cap. 28:03,” one of the grounds on which she is arguing the case states.
She contented further that the electoral body has failed to comply with Sections 12, 13, 19, 20, 22 and 23 of the Local Government Elections Act. This, she said in her application cannot be the grounds on which GECOM issues a final Voters List in accordance with the Local Government Elections Act, that is to say, a List which was subjected to the statutory processes set out in the aforementioned Sections and most importantly and significantly a Claims and Objections period.
“By failing to comply with the aforesaid provision of the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act Cap. 28:03, the Commission has acted in dereliction of its duty under the said Act, and moreover in dereliction of its constitutional duty to ensure that registration of Electors are conducted in accordance with law,” it further stated.
The Court is further being asked to direct GECOM, as provided for in Article 162 of the Constitution, to compile a Register of Voters which imposes and/or implies a duty to compile a reasonably accurate and credible Register of Voters.
She also wants the court to determine that the Register of Voters extracted for use at LGE is not reasonably accurate or credible thereby making the same unconstitutional, unlawful, null, void and of no legal effect.
And that among other rulings, that the court directs or compel GECOM to compile a Register of Voters in accordance with Section 23 (3) of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act Cap 28:03 before conducting of any Local Government Elections in Guyana.
Joseph is also asking the court that a declaration be made to the effect that GECOM acted ultra vires and unlawfully in not compiling the Preliminary List of Voters for Local Government Elections in accordance with the Local Authorities (Elections) Act Cap. 28:03
In the legal document filed before the court, Joseph said the Official List of Electors used in the Regional and General elections cannot be used for LGE simply because of the fact of geographic constituency boundaries in Local Authority Area (LAA).
She argued that the basis of divisions for use at National and Regional Elections without regard to residency and not on the basis of Local Authority Areas and their constituencies as a basis of Claims and Objections in relation to Local Authority Areas and its constituencies.
“The process employed by the Commission to prepare a Register of Voters for use at the next Local Government Elections has deprived the Electors and or voters of the opportunity to object to persons on the Register of Voters in the manner provided for in and contemplated by Local Authorities (Elections) Act Cap. 28:03.”
In October, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall wrote to Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh informing her that March 13, 2023, has been appointed as the date for overdue Local Government Elections.
In a statement announcing the date, Dharamlall said that the government is committed to upholding democracy and believes that the hosting of local government polls is an important pillar in the country’s democratic political system.
Since then, APNU, the major opposition, has been calling for a fresh voters list and has expressed concerns over the non-publishing of the voters list in constituencies.
In defending government’s decision to revert to the use of 2016 district boundaries, some of which have been extended, for the upcoming 2023 Local Government Elections (LGE), Dharamlall at a press conference two Fridays ago said that it would ensure there is greater democracy and representation of the people at the local level.
Dharamlall told a press conference that for the 2018 LGE, a total of 14 local authorities were changed by the then A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration.
Local Government Elections were constitutionally due at the end of last year but GECOM was without a Chief Election Officer and could not have prepared to host the elections.
Some $2.9 billion has been allocated to GECOM for preparatory works to ensure the successful planning and execution of LGE.
