Electoral reform bills tabled in Parliament
In furtherance of the government’s electoral reform agenda, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall on Monday tabled proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) and the National Registration Act (NRA) in the National Assembly.
The National Registration (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2022 are a result of the events following the March 2020 general elections which saw attempts to rig the elections in favour of the then APNU+AFC government.
Last November, the government released proposed amendments to RoPA. One of the major changes the government proposes is the division of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), the country’s largest electoral district, into four sub-districts – East Bank Demerara, East Coast
Demerara, North Georgetown and South Georgetown – effectively adding a new section to Section 6 of RoPA, which deals with polling districts and divisions.
Among the proposed amendments are the introduction of hefty fines and lengthy jail time for several election-related offences. The fines are in the millions while jail time ranges from three years to life.
Last month, at a National Stakeholders Consultation, the government said that after analyzing the feedback it received from stakeholders, it will be moving to subdivide Electoral Districts Three and Six as well.
Both Regions Three and Six will be divided into three subdistricts while Region Four will have four. In the case of Region Three, the new sub-districts will be Essequibo Islands and River, St Lawrence to Cornelia Ida and
Den Amstel to Arabio Creek.
Region Four is divided into East Bank Demerara, North Georgetown, South Georgetown and East Coast Demerara subdistricts while Region Six will see the introduction of East Bank Berbice to Canje, Upper Corentyne and Lower Corentyne sub-districts.
As part of the NRA draft amendments, government is addressing the issue of the removal of names from the National Register of Registrants (NRR). Removal of names from the NRR had been a contentious issue prior to the 2020 general election. Back in 2019, acting Chief Justice Roxane George declared that existing registrants could not be excised from a new voters’ list unless they were deceased or otherwise disqualified under Article 159 (2), (3) or (4) of the Constitution.
Currently, section 8 of the existing National Registration Act states “without prejudice to the provisions of section 15 (6), the registration of a person may be cancelled or altered in accordance with any regulations made on that behalf.”
Section 15 (16) says that the Commissioner of Registration shall only make changes to the NRR following claims and objections.
The proposed amendment sees the introduction of sections 8 (a) and (b).
Section 8 (a) speaks to the list of dead persons to be sent to the Commissioner of Registration. It provides that the Registrar General of Births and Deaths, upon the request of the Commissioner of Registration, would send a list of all persons 14 years and older whose deaths have been registered. That is to be done once every month.
The new section 8 (b) outlines the process for the cancellation of the registration of persons who are dead. It states “…the registration of any person under this Act whose name is on the list of dead persons sent by the Registrar General to the Commissioner under section 8A shall be cancelled. (2) The Commissioner shall prepare a list from the central register for every division comprising names of persons registered in the division that are on the list of dead persons sent by the Registrar General and certify and send the list to the registration officer of the division.”
Registration officers in every division will submit the list of names of dead persons as a separate list to claims and objections under section 15 of the existing Act. The registration officers, accompanied by scrutineers, will visit the address of the person listed as dead, to verify the information.