Walkout scuttles GECOM work plan meeting
-after proposal for house-to-house registration as basis for scheduling polls
A special meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on its 2019 work schedule was ended yesterday by the walkout of the opposition-nominated commissioners.
In a joint statement following the meeting, the three commissioners, Bibi Shadick, Robeson Benn and Sase Gunraj, explained that the walkout was in response to a demand from government-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander that the elections timeline include national house-to-house registration.
“This flies in the face of the urgent need, as prescribed by the Constitution of Guyana, to hold elections within three months of the successful passage of a vote of no-confidence. Further, it can only be seen as another act in the series of dilatory tactics employed by certain Commissioners and the Secretariat of GECOM to derail this important and constitutionally-mandated timeframe,” the three commissioners argued.
Alexander, meanwhile, maintained that “the only way to have a credible elections is to have a credible list [of electors],” which can only happen through house-to-house registration. “They [the PPP/C-nominated commissioners] didn’t accept that the work programme and house-to-house does provide a basis for election,” Alexander noted, while stressing that he is not willing to let go of the demand that house-to-house registration be a prerequisite in the lead up to elections.
Meanwhile, the opposition-nominated commissioners also questioned the number of letters sent by President David Granger to GECOM Chairman James Patterson.
The president sent two letters, both dated February 25th, to Patterson but only one letter was shared with the commissioners on Tuesday.
In the letter shared with the commissioners, which was seen by Stabroek News, President Granger urged that GECOM begin preparations for general and regional elections.
A second letter, released to the media by the Ministry of the Presidency, sees Granger attempting to initiate consultations with Patterson on the readiness of GECOM for the conduct of general and regional elections in 2019.
According to the PPP/Cnominated commissioners, the second letter was not provided to them until Commissioner Shadick requested a copy.
“We believe that this ‘second letter’ was only sent to GECOM after it was exposed at the [February 28th] Press Conference of the Leader of the Opposition that the letter posted on the Ministry of the Presidency’s website significantly differed in content from the one circulated to Commissioners on the 26th February, 2019,” the commissioners argue in their statement.
The existence and contents of both letters were reported on in the February 27th edition of the Stabroek News.
“No previous mention was made of this second letter nor was any effort made to present copies thereof to Commissioners. A discussion on the content of this second letter ensued and upon inquiry, the Chairman responded that it was not his opinion that the second letter superseded the first,” the commissioners revealed.
Though they claimed that Alexander expressed view that the second letter superseded the first, he had told this newspaper that “There were two letters which seem to be sequential, since the second mentioned the first. There is no contradiction in my mind. One says start preparations, the other says I want to consult with you on your preparations.”
Alexander also said the GECOM Secretariat has moved into operations mode but can do only so much since an election date is still to be announced.