…polling day staff currently being trained
Preparation mode for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to carry out Local Government Elections (LGE) is in full swing, particularly since a date has now been set for the holding of the polls.
In an interview with this publication, GECOM Spokesperson Yolanda Ward explained that the secretariat is currently in preparatory mode. She noted that now that a date has been fixed, the next step will see GECOM advertising for contesting parties to submit their symbols.
“We’re currently conducting training and I think that the next steps will be advertising for symbols of parties contesting elections. But we have started training… for poll day staff,” Ward explained.
An important aspect of GECOM’s preparations is training. According to Ward, they have already completed training for election managerial staff such as Returning Officers and further training is ongoing for the more junior staff.
“We would have already conducted training for management staff, which would include Returning Officers and Deputy Returning Officers and so on,” she explained, noting that the polling day staff currently receiving training number in the thousands.
On Thursday, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall, wrote GECOM Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, announcing March 13, 2023, as the date for LGE.
According to Dharamlall, Government is committed to upholding democracy and believes that the holding of local polls is an important pillar in Guyana’s democratic political system. It was against this backdrop that the date for hosting the LGE was decided.
“Please be informed that pursuant to Section 35 (1) of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03, I appoint March 13, 2023, as the day on which elections of Councillors for Local Authorities shall be held,” Minister Dharamlall wrote to Justice Singh.
The Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03, states that elections are held according to the date set by the Minister. Moreover, it was noted that an order under Section 35 shall be published in the Gazette appointing March 13 next year as the date for the LGE.
Readiness
Earlier this week, Justice Singh had written to the Local Government and Regional Development Minister, advising him that based on GECOM’s work plan, March 13, 2023, was the earliest date that LGE could be held. In fact, the Commission indicated that the elections could be held anytime between March 13 and April 24, 2023.
The work plan in question was arrived at by Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, who was tasked by GECOM with coming up with a work plan for the holding of LGE. At first, that work plan was supposed to be limited to this year-end. However, that has since had to be extended amid successive weeks of what has been described by the Government-nominated GECOM Commissioners as delaying tactics at Commission meetings.
LGE is constitutionally due every two years in Guyana and was last held in 2018.
While the polls were due in 2020, the elections fiasco that played out following the March 2 General and Regional Elections that year resulted in LGE being deferred.
It was only in December last that the Commission finally completed the appointment of a new Chief Elections Officer in the person of Vishnu Persaud. Then, only last month, GECOM appointed Beverley Critchlow as the Assistant Chief Elections Officer (ACEO).
Nevertheless, over the past months, the Elections Commission has been in preparatory mode for the holding of the local polls. More than $750 million has been set aside in Budget 2022 for the preparations to be undertaken by GECOM for the hosting of LGE this year.
This money is part of an overall $4.1 billion allocation to GECOM in Budget 2022 and was examined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the 2022 Budget Estimates.
Included in the $783 million for LGE is a more than $300 million increase in “other goods and services purchased”, which jumped from $250.8 million in 2021 to $575.9 million in the 2022 budget.
GECOM only recently concluded its Claims and Objections exercise, which captured more than 3000 new applicants who will be eligible to vote as of October 31, 2022, as well as a total of 18 objections to names on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE). Additionally, there were more than 1800 requests for transfers.
At the last LGE held in November 2018, the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, in which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs.
The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the now main Opposition political party, meanwhile remains tight-lipped on its participation in the next LGE and its minority coalition partner, the Alliance For Change (AFC), is yet to communicate whether or not it would be contesting the polls together.
