By: Vahnu Manickchand
Having had first-hand observation of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections fiasco, the outgoing United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, is urging the country to examine all the options available to strengthen its electoral system, thus producing free and fair elections.
Ambassador Lynch made this remark on Thursday during a press conference – her last here, as she wraps up an almost five-year stint in Georgetown.
Ambassador Lynch, along with other Western diplomats, had played an integral role in ensuring democracy prevailed in Guyana, and the will of the Guyanese people was upheld, after blatant attempts by the then APNU/AFC regime to rig the March 2, 2020 elections.
Those efforts had resulted in a five-month political impasse, during which the US had imposed visa sanctions against several key players who were leading the attempts to undermine Guyana’s democracy.
During Thursday’s press conference, the US Diplomat said there are a number of lessons learned from that controversial election.
“I think it’s important to explore all tools that Guyana has access to in order to, again, ensure the elections continue to be free and fair,” the Ambassador stated in response to a question on whether the country should employ the use of biometrics in its electoral process.
“I think many nations now are exploring biometrics as that one additional tool that they can use to ensure that elections are free and fair. So, I don’t know what the final decision will be [in Guyana].”
The PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Opposition have been pushing for the use of biometric data as well as for a clean voters’ list, because they claim the current list is bloated.
Back in May, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had stated that the use of biometrics could help enormously at polling stations, but manual verification checks by party agents would be required. He clarified, however, that biometrics cannot be used to disenfranchise voters.
Constitutional Reform
During a press conference in June, Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Retired) Claudette Singh, had noted that constitutional reform is needed in order for the electoral body to clean the present voters’ list and introduce biometrics into the voting process.
“This will take us back…,” the GECOM Chair had pointed out, as she added, “To remove a person’s name from the voters’ list on the grounds of residency and the introduction of biometrics will necessitate an amendment to the Constitution… GECOM does not have the legal parameters to do this.”
The Guyana Government has announced plans for a constitutional reform process. In fact, the Constitution Reform Commission Bill 2022 was passed in the National Assembly in November last year, clearing the way for the establishment of a 20-member Constitutional Reform Commission.
During his weekly programme, Issues in the News, earlier this week, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, had announced that this Commission would be set up before the end of September. This will pave the way for a comprehensive national consultation process to get underway.
Since the 2020 elections, steps have been taken to strengthen Guyana’s electoral system with needed amendments to the Representation of the People’s Act (ROPA) – the country’s main electoral law. The National Registration Act, another electoral law, has also been amended.
Recommendations
Following the 2020 electoral fiasco, Guyana conducted its Local Government Elections (LGE) in June, and it was described by Ambassador Lynch on Thursday as “free and fair.” However, she pointed out that there are still several recommendations that were made after the 2020 polls that are yet to be implemented. On this note, the US envoy urged Guyana to ensure those recommendations are implemented.
“The electoral process is critical to a strong democracy, so I would advise the people of Guyana: the Government and all parties, to look at those recommendations very closely. Look at the recommendations that were made after the 2020 election to see what really stands out and what things can be worked on now. You don’t want to wait to the last minute, until it’s a month before the [next] election,” she stated.
According to the outgoing US Diplomat, some of these recommendations, such as changes to infrastructures, could take time to be implemented, hence they require action now. For instance, she recalled that during the 2020 elections, one of the observations that were made was the lack of proper access to polling stations for persons with disabilities (PWDs).
“So, I would say get going on those recommendations sooner, rather than later,” the US envoy implored.
Meanwhile, as the country embarks on this critical constitutional reform process, the Ambassador has urged dialogue between the Government and the Opposition.
“I think the most important takeaway for me is that all political parties really have the same goal… From what I can tell, they all want Guyana to succeed. They want the people of Guyana to have opportunities, access to increased opportunities, access to jobs, quality health care, and quality education. So, I would say, going forward, it’s important for them to converse and talk about areas of mutual agreement. Of course, they’re political parties, they won’t agree on everything, but I think it’s important for them to converse and talk,” Ambassador Lynch has contended.
It was only on Wednesday that President Dr Irfaan Ali reiterated his willingness to engage the Opposition, but he argued that this responsibility needs to be shared by the Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, who has so far refused to be cordial with the Head of State.
The Guyanese Leader pointed out that the Opposition Leader has not demonstrated or reciprocated a willingness to engage.
“The Leader of the Opposition can pick up the phone tomorrow and call me, and I will speak to him… [But] this is a Leader of the Opposition who doesn’t have the basic decency to shake the hands of the President…I tried twice to shake the man’s hands and he refused, and now you telling me I must try again. Why he can’t try? Because it’s inconvenient for the narrative for him to try, but the convenient narrative is that the President is not meeting him,” President Ali stated.
