City Mayor adds voice to call for clean voters list in anticipation of LGEs

Oct 23, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine has added his proverbial two cents to the ongoing discussion over the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) set for March 2023.

City Mayor: Ubraj Narine

In a statement issued on Friday, the city Mayor noted that while the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has written to the Minister of Local Government indicating its readiness to hold Local Government Elections in the first quarter of 2023, it is his form view that LGE should not be held in the absence of a clean voters’ list.

He said that this was pointed out following the 2020 National and Regional Elections by the current opposition which highlighted a number of alarming anomalies which have again resurfaced and called for a new list.

The Mayor said that the People’s Progressive Party Civic too (while in opposition) called for a new voters list in 2015 compiled on the basis of fresh house-to-house enumeration as part of a number of recommendations for reforms to enhance credibility in the list.

However, he noted that recently appointed PPP/C Commissioner Clement Rohee has indicated that the issue of needing a new list is determined by whether a party wins an election or not.

“This state of affairs,” The Mayor said, “cannot represent democratic norms.” Mayor Narine stressed that the people must be confident that their elected officials are reflected by a process free from influence that is fair and transparent.

“We cannot be comfortable with this partisan approach to representation. Come what may the people of our country should rest assured that their elected officials are competently executing on behalf and in the interest of the citizenry…,” he said.

Narine added that Civil society and all right-thinking Guyanese must band together to ensure that no election is held on a bloated list dictated by the Peoples Progressive Party Government and Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission.

He stressed that there can be no harm in ensuring a levelled playing field is created for all actors in the electoral process.

“Let us be rid of this indecency,” Narine added.

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall announced on Thursday that March 13, 2023, was selected as the date for Local Government Elections (LGE).

In a statement released to the public, the Government of Guyana reiterated that it is committed to upholding democracy, noting that the holding of Local Government Elections is an important pillar in the democratic political system.

Dharamlall wrote to Justice (Retd) Claudette Singh, Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) appointing the date based on the work plan submitted by GECOM.

Accordingly, an Order under Section 35 shall be published in the Gazette appointing the date. The statement added that as part of the Government’s commitment, some $2.9B has been allocated to GECOM for preparatory works to ensure the successful planning and execution of LGE.

The government had repeatedly indicated that it was ready to hold the elections but was awaiting the guidance of GECOM. Notwithstanding this, the political opposition continued to press for a clean voters’ list.

The elections were previously due in 2021, and some $1.1 billion had been allocated in the 2021 national budget for it; however, there were questions surrounding the credibility of several employees who were implicated in the attempts to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE). Several were eventually fired.

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