New party flays PPP, PNCR over GECOM stalemate

New political party, A New and United Guyana (ANUG), yesterday criticised the PPP and PNCR for their role in devising and perpetuating the current configuration of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) saying that this has resulted in undermining democracy in Guyana.

The party’s criticism came following GECOM’s approval of three motions on Tuesday including that it will advise President David Granger that the 90-day constitutional deadline for general elections cannot be met and that it will continue with its approved work plan for the year, including a national house-to-house registration process. In making the determination, the six GECOM commissioners, three each of whom were nominated by the PPP and the government side respectively, voted along political lines with GECOM Chairman James Patterson casting his vote twice with the coalition commissioners, resulting in a majority vote in favour of the motions.

In a press statement yesterday, ANUG said that the current “constitutional crisis” in the electoral process which faces Guyana is caused by the two parties’ manipulation of the constitutional system to “undermine meaningful democracy in Guyana and perpetuate their own dominance.”

It noted that Article 160 of the Constitution, which governs the Elections Commission, was amended by the agreement of the two parties in 2001. According to the Article, the commission shall comprise a chairman and six members. The chairman is to be appointed by the President from a list of six candidates identified by the Leader of the Opposition. The six members are selected; three by the President and three by the Leader of the Opposition.

“So the two big parties control the process, to the exclusion of any other voice, and we are feeling the consequence,” ANUG asserted.

In a reference to the PNCR, the statement pointed out that the appointees to the Commission by the Afro-based party are Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman. Similarly, in an apparent reference to the PPP, ANUG noted that the appointees of the Indo-based party are Robeson Benn, Bibi Shadick and Sase Gunraj. “There is…no doubt concerning the party loyalty of any of these Commissioners,” the statement said.

It said that any lingering possibility that the commission would be able to function as an independent and autonomous professional body undertaking its important function in the interest of the Guyanese people above party interest was shattered when President Granger defied the letter and spirit of Article 160 by rejecting 18 names proposed by the Leader of the Opposition for the office of chairman of the commission, and unilaterally appointed Patterson.

According to ANUG, Patterson is “another sympathizer” of the “Afro party” and thus there are four on the commission who “favour” this party.

“The result of the collaboration of the two parties has had the usual result: the national interest is subjugated to party paramountcy. The commission, whose function it is to maintain a list of electors and to be ready for elections when constitutionally required, has singularly failed to perform its mandate for two months after a no-confidence vote in Parliament has mandated that elections be held by the end of March 2019,” ANUG said, while adding the public has for two months during the silence of the commission, been left to speculate whether the existing list of electors is sound, and whether the commission is ready for elections. That speculation has descended into the inevitable noise and mayhem of political cross talk, it observed.

“Now we learn that the Commission has by majority vote decided that it cannot meet the constitutional timeline mandated for the elections. No need to ask how the vote was split, or which side benefitted from the casting vote of President Granger’s appointed Chairman. Once again, the system contrived by the two parties and enshrined by them into the Constitution has undermined democracy in Guyana and have taken us into another crisis,” ANUG declared.

The statement said that ANUG supports constitutional change to reform the appointment of the Elections Commission and its personnel in a manner that is more appropriate to effective management and the ethnic nature of our society. Until such time, Guyana will continue to suffer,

the independence and professionalism of the commission will be nonexistent, and political crises of this sort will be the norm, it asserted.

The statement said that ANUG’s purpose is to change the constitutional system which encourages the two big ethnic political parties to behave in ways that are detrimental to social life in Guyana. “Under the present system these two parties have been empowered to perpetuate their own relevance by perpetrating race politics in our country. And while the two parties have kept their grip on control, Guyana has suffered,” ANUG declared.