The A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM), which contested the 2020 elections, utilized section 22 of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) for the first time in Guyana’s history and wrote to the Chief Election Officer informing him that they have “joined” their lists. The section provides that two or more lists of candidates can be “joined” for the distribution of seats, but not votes. The lists so joined are called a “combination of lists.” The media baptized them as “the joinder parties.”
A Memorandum of Understanding between them provided that if any seats were obtained, they would be proportionately distributed according to votes earned. The parties together gained one seat from a combined total of 5,214 votes. The parties agreed to share the one seat in proportion to the votes received by each. Since the LJP won the most votes, 2,657, its leader, Lenox Shuman, took up the seat for the agreed time. ANUG’s turn was next with 2,313 votes. It agreed that TNM should take the next turn as it was entitled to serve in the National Assembly for only three months having won only 244 votes; if elections were called early, it would lose its opportunity. Dr. Asha Kissoon, who represents TNM, took up the TNM’s seat in the National Assembly and in an act of stunning infamy, has since refused to resign, the three months having long expired.