The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government will be bringing amendments to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) Bill, which will provide critical amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws, to the National Assembly in a month or two.
This was revealed by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, during a recent interview that was broadcast on his social media page. According to Jagdeo, these amendments will address a number of loopholes, that allowed elements within the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to attempt to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
“In the new law that is going to Parliament, to be passed within the matter of a month or two, the polling places have to be identified long before and notified to the political parties. For every number of individuals, let’s say 500 individuals, there must be a polling place and it must be close to where they live,” the Vice President explained.
While listing some of the other reforms that will be brought, such as random placement of polling officials, publishing of election manuals and real-time uploading of Statements of Poll (SoPs), he also pointed out that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) do not want these reforms to the electoral laws.
“Before you start tabulating votes at the regional level, all the Statements of Poll have to be uploaded by GECOM. So, if you have a good calculator, by 7:00 in the morning if everything is uploaded the same night, every citizen should be able to know who won the elections,” Jagdeo said.
“A number of other things (will be) fixed. And serious penalties for breaches. So, the law is now before us. APNU doesn’t want that passed. They issued a statement that they’re opposed to any changes in RoPA. So, this making election more transparent and holding public officials more accountable and closing all loopholes for capricious action.”
It was announced a few days ago that the Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Ministry will be convening a national stakeholders’ consultation on the draft amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws on October 25, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
This consultation is an integral element of the Government of Guyana’s commitment to implement a consultative, inclusive, and participatory process regarding electoral reform. The Ministry said in its statement that the stakeholder consultation formed part of a continuous consultative process, which began on November 6, 2021, when the Ministry published the draft Representation of the People (Amendment) (RoPA) Bill and the draft regulations made under the Representation of the People Act on its social media pages.
As such, the public was invited to peruse the draft documents and submit feedback to the Ministry within six weeks; however, after requests for extensions, the Ministry accommodated submissions of feedback well into 2022.
Recommendations were received from a variety of stakeholders including civil society actors, the Guyana Elections Commission, some political parties, and interested individuals and organisations. These recommendations were consolidated and provided to the Attorney General, who in May 2022, facilitated in-person meetings with the respondents.
Updated versions of the RoPA Bill and Regulations have been made available once again. and the new draft amendments to the National Registration Act have also been made accessible for public perusal via a link published on the Ministry’s Facebook pages. To this end, 157 organisations have been invited to the upcoming consultation on October 25.
These organisations represent a broad cross-section of society including political parties; constitutional bodies; civil society organisations in the labour movement; private sector, faith-based, youth, women, LGBTQ, ethnic/cultural, health and rehabilitation organisations; and other civil society actors.
