Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh SC will today make a decision on the controversial Order 50 of 2022 promulgated by the Local Government Minister on constituencies for scheduled polls.
With Singh ruling that Local Government Minister, Nigel Dharamlall has no authority to constitute constituencies in Local Authority Areas as he did, the commission is now left to decide if it will accept the changes and republish them for demarcation of the boundaries or undertake its own process in the mapping of boundaries.
The chair’s ruling was made based on a report from the Logistics Division of the Commission. Singh had proposed the two options subsequent to her ruling against Dharamlall’s gazetted order.
When a decision is made, the commission will communicate with the Local Government Minister.
After a lengthy delay, Local Government Elections (LGEs) were scheduled for March 13th next year but arguments over constituencies and how lists were extracted for the polls hint at a further setback in the timeline.
Government-appointed commissioners last week made a presentation in favour of the ministerial changes to constituency boundaries to several local authority areas.
Government-appointed Commissioner Manoj Narayan yesterday told this newspaper that given the urgency to hold local government elections, he and fellow commissioners Sase Gunraj and Clement Rohee believe it is the best move since it will accelerate the work of the commission. This, he said, will also allow for the approval of the Local Government Elections work plan.
Narayan also argued that from his side of the table they see nothing wrong with the Minister’s order given that transformation has been taking place in communities across the country.
He stated that in some instances constituencies were sub divided resulting in population growth and in some cases expanded to include new housing communities that are being created across the country.
At a press conference on November 25th, Dharamlall spoke liberally on the redrawing of constituencies.
For better representation, he said, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government had decided to revert to the boundaries used at the polls in 2016. In a few instances, he said some were extended. “…. For LGE we have made some changes which we believe will redound to the benefit of greater, expanded and enhanced community development…We are aware that local democracy is essential to the overall development of our communities and to our people and our country,” Dharamlall told the press conference, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
According to Dharamlall, the modifications will see an increase in the complement of councillors in local democratic organs in the 80 local authority areas; namely the 70 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and the 10 municipalities.
In 2018, he said there were 1,192 council seats across the country in 596 constituencies, while for the upcoming LGE, there will be 1,220 council seats in 610 constituencies.
Dharamlall said the changes were made following consultations with the communities and residents. “As a matter of fact, I would want to think that there was a deliberate attempt to keep out the public from this process in 2018 because a lot of the changes were done internally through the Guyana Elections Commission and not through the consultative national process,” he noted.
In outlining the changes, Dharamlall explained that the district boundary for Mabaruma Township in Region One has been extended to include the community of Wauna.
Opposition-appointed Commissioners had strongly argued the case that the minister does not have the powers to demarcate boundaries of Local Authority Areas and Constituencies and by doing so he acted in contravention of the constitution.
GECOM, while responding to media reports two weeks ago, said the powers given to the minister and the commission differ and do not conflict.
In the statement, Singh explained that the minister has the power to divide Guyana into areas as provided for, considering the factors specified by Article 72(2) of the Constitution in defining the boundaries of those areas. This includes the power to define and modify the boundaries of neighbourhoods, people’s co-operative units within those neighbourhoods, and establish local democratic organs for those.
On the other hand, the Commission only has the power to combine or subdivide those divisions within neighbourhoods, and municipalities, to form constituencies, the statement said.
“Addressing some existing concerns regarding the recently gazetted orders of the minister, in which he made changes to the existing Local Authority Areas, and at the same time may have identified changes to those constituencies within the Local Authority Areas, the Chairman pointed out that those changes made to the boundaries of the local authority areas, and any changes to electoral divisions within those Local Authority Areas, are within the legal authority of the Minister,” GECOM had said.
In the same vein, the Chairman said that if the minister sought to form or change the configuration of constituencies within those areas, he would have usurped the power granted to the Commission to combine and sub-divide electoral divisions to form constituencies. She formed the opinion that the Minister would have acted outside of his legal remit if such was the case.
