Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vincent Alexander told the Guyana Standard that the nation’s old campaign financing law will, without a doubt, undermine the fairness of the next General and Regional Elections.
Campaign financing laws regulate the amount of money political candidates or parties may receive from individuals or organisations. The coalition administration had promised that this issue would have been addressing without hesitation once it assumed office. But it remains a shelved matter.
Speaking today to the Guyana Standard about his disappointment on this front, Alexander said, “We are heading into elections with archaic laws and it is a concern to me. I don’t think we have time to fix this. We have a situation where we are not sure if we even have a Parliament. At the end of the day, this depends on the political will. It has a lot to do with the legislature and how answerable the political directorate is to the calls of the population.”
The Commissioner added, “From the technical standpoint no, it does not affect the fairness of the elections but yes, the absence of laws or modern laws I should saw, does undermine fairness from a moral standpoint, from a standpoint of political integrity. This is, however, is not entirely in GECOM’s domain even though we are concerned about.”
Alexander commented that the political opposition and the government run the risk of receiving funding from the informal elements of the economy. “Because obviously, those in that part of the economy would like to shape the political regime and that would be integral to their continued existence,” expressed the GECOM Commissioner.
He added, “We have failed to take a step forward on this issue.”
