Removing list requirement in Article 160 (2) (a) will do much to enhance stagnant democracy

I write with reference to a letter titled `Bring back the constituency system and reform the rights commissions’ which was published in your online edition dated February 2, 2021. Early in this letter, the writer, Dr. Bertrand Ramcharan, makes a huge error which, to my disappointment, was not fact checked by you. Dr. Ramcharan stated that “The PNC changed the independence constitution and moved away from the constituency system”. Anyone with a passing familiarity of Guyanese history would know that it was the British who removed the constituency system and imposed proportional representation prior to independence.

Whilst I can embrace his call for a single powerful, independent human rights commission, I cannot endorse his call for a complete return to a constituency system. The two main political parties have not served Guyana well for the last five decades. A pure constituency system virtually eliminates the possibility of third parties weakening the stranglehold of the two Leviathans. My preference is a hybrid system. A hybrid system would partially fulfil Dr. Ramcharan’s desire for citizens to “to vote on the basis of the competence of individual candidates” even as it, sadly, reduces the possibilities for third parties.

In some ways, Guyana already has a hybrid system. Article 160 (2) allows Parliament to “make provision for the division of Guyana into” a “number of geographical constituencies.” However, the Leviathans perverted this attempt at a constituency system by requiring, in Article 160 (2) (a), that candidates declare “that he or she supports, or has otherwise identified himself or herself with one and only one of the lists related to that geographical constituency”. This sub-section of the Constitution is repugnant and undermines our fledgling democracy. The removal of the list requirement in Article 160 (2) (a) and the subdivision of the regional seats into smaller constituencies will do much to enhance our stagnant democracy whilst retaining possibilities for third parties.