ELECTION LEGISLATION REFORM

A letter from prominent citizens in SN last Friday called for consultation on electoral reforms. But drafting of the bill may have already commenced requiring the publication of the SOPs by GECOM immediately upon receipt and the creation of appropriate offences with severe penalties for election staff who violate election rules.

LEAVING BEHIND – THE YEAR OF THE HALF PERSON

By this time, the year of the half person would have passed. It took three courts to finally resolve this jurisprudential conundrum. The argument advanced to overturn the no confidence vote of 33/32 against the Government on 21 December, 2018, was that while mathematically, half of 65 members of the National Assembly is 32½, the […]

BALLOTS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Guyana has achieved the dubious distinction of taking the longest time to announce election results and of having the largest number of court cases concerning elections between the commencement of the voting and the declaration. Impatience is in the air, reflected by former Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin, who called on his former colleagues to “find […]

THE CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

Cynicism in relation to elections in Guyana did not begin with the debate as to whether the majority of 65 is 33 or 34 in relation to the no confidence motion passed against the APNU+AFC Government by the National Assembly on December 21, 2018. It began since mid-2017 when President Granger rejected three lists of […]

GECOM HAS LOST ALL CLAIM TO CREDIBILITY

The jury is still out on whether GECOM will deliver credible election results, notwithstanding the widespread demands of the international community and a broad cross-section of Guyanese. In any rational society, the entire membership of GECOM would have resigned due to its failure to honour its constitutional responsibilities. By resigning GECOM would be demonstrating its […]