Draft legislation to aid in the reformation of Guyana’s electoral laws and systems will be circulated sometime next week for stakeholder consultations, says Guyanese President, Dr. Irfaan Ali.
During a press conference this morning, the Head of State said that he has urged the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall S.C., to have the document(s) distributed next week to kick start the process.
“Only yesterday I urged the Attorney General and what we’re working on is to have the draft legislation circulated sometime next week among all the stakeholders…And six weeks be given for the review and comments on the draft legislation. So that will be done next week and six weeks for the review so that we can expeditiously move forward with this,” Dr. Ali said.
The circulation of the draft legislation will come on the heels of local and international clamour for a revamp of electoral laws in Guyana. Those calls were intensified during the contentious pre and post March 2020 General and Regional Elections, which is regarded as the longest electoral process in the country’s history, spanning five months of litigation, violent protests, rigging allegations, and the alleged involvement of top electoral officers in fraud.
Nandlall, who has been vocal on the issue of electoral reform, a little over a year ago, raised with the Canadian High Commissioner, Lilian Chatterjee, the possibility of her country lending support to reform several pieces of Guyana’s electoral legislation to prevent a recurrence of the debacle that ensued the March 2 General and Regional Election.
He made his pitch during a recent meeting with Chatterjee in Georgetown in early October last year.
Nandlall said then, that he was committed to examining the Representation of the People Act and other various pieces of legislation to identify and close loopholes “that have been exploited by political fraudsters after the March 2 Elections”.
One of the objectives that will be achieved in reforming these electoral laws, Nandlall had said, includes the mandatory publishing of Statements of Poll (SOPS) on a website by each contesting political party. He also noted the need for the implementation of oversight mechanisms to guard against ‘rogue’ Returning Officers “declaring wrong results”.
The AG had also stressed the need for stringent measures to be employed in the hiring procedures and practices of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Moreover, he noted that a penal regime must be implemented to protect against fraud.
