Nandlall doesn’t think GECOM will be ready for local gov’t polls next year

While the PPP/C promises to give the Guyana Elections Commission all the resources it needs to prepare for Local Government Elections (LGE) next year, Attorney General Anil Nandlall says that it seems unlikely to be held given the current elections petitions, a call by the opposition for a new voters list and police probes of officers of the electoral body.

“By law, Local Government Elections are due next year, but from all indications it does not appear that GECOM will be in a state of readiness for several reasons…,” Nandlall told Stabroek News yesterday.

“How do we determine [GECOM’s readiness]? We have to fix the elections commission and that is the task of the elections commission itself as an independent constitutional body. All the government can do is to provide the resources and canvas for the changes,” he said.

The Attorney General said that not only is GECOM’s Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield before the court, but that his party has no confidence in him again performing such functions at the electoral body.

“You have to be doubtful whether the Chief Election Officer and the Deputy Chief Election Officer and other functionaries, who are before the court charged with criminal offences, would be able to discharge their respective statutory responsibilities. Moreover, these persons’ credibility would come under heavy scrutiny. Important to an election commission, is its credibility, because public confidence is integral to the electoral process and moreover for the results declared by that commission to gain public acceptability. Unfortunately, the world saw the inner workings of GECOM on display during the elections and before March 2020 and subsequent to the elections,” Nandlall reasoned.

“Whichever side of the political divide wants it, both sides have expressed, at a minimum, disquiet with the elections machinery and elections officers. Earlier this week, APNU+AFC had expressed objections to the current electoral register and they are calling for a new house-tohouse registration. On the PPP/C’s side, I can safely say that they have no confidence in the Chief Election Officer or the Deputy Election Officer and we have an extraordinarily sound basis for our views.

Anil Nandlall

Everyone saw the Chief Election Officer’s behaviour post, March 2nd,” he added.

However Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon said that his party is expecting the LGE to be held in its statutory timeframe and said he is confident that current matters before the court will have no impact on the Chief Election Officer or others executing their duties.

“The government has to allocate the

Joseph Harmon

funds for GECOM to satisfy a new and credible voters’ list. LGE is a statutory requirement. It is the Government of Guyana’s responsibility to put in place everything for it to happen. So I am not prepared to accept any statement by Mr. Nandlall on GECOM’s readiness. The government has to provide the resources