A damning report which outlines attempts to subvert the will of the Guyanese electorate back in March 2020, will be tabled in Parliament after it has been studied by Cabinet. Making this revelation on Thursday was the country’s Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo, one day after the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) handed over its findings to President Dr Irfaan Ali.
Jagdeo said that the recommendations contained in the report will be implemented to strengthen the electoral system. He anticipates that these changes will augment the steps already taken by this government through the implementation of severe punitive measures in the Representation of the People Act (ROPA). Now, anyone found guilty of or attempting to commit electoral crimes, can face life imprisonment and multimillion-dollar fines.
“We have already started strengthening the electoral system to leave very little room for capricious action and that has been acknowledged in the report through the changes in ROPA. The changes have been far-reaching with a series of penalties as well as clarity on what can happen in an election and how you go through the counting so that the farce that we have seen won’t repeat itself,” Jagdeo said.
The March 2020 elections were marred in controversy with three top electoral officials placed at the centre of rigging allegations. The COI report said that the Former Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, his Deputy, Roxanne Myers and Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo were “shockingly brazen” in their attempts to “steal” the election. Their efforts were directed at enabling the former government-now-opposition, to retain office.
GECOM’s Composition
Flagged in the report also was the “politicised” composition of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which comprises three commissioners each from the government and the opposition, and a chairperson, who is essentially the “tie-breaker”. Despite this composition, the GECOM is still considered an independent constitutional agency. But the CoI is not the first entity to make this observation. Following the conclusion of the five-month-prolonged March 2020 poll, several observer agencies including the Carter Centre, flagged the format as one that does not provide avenues of participation for other contesting parties. It, too, recommended urgent action to overhaul the structure.
But Jagdeo argued on Thursday that while the existing structure has been a source of concern for many, it is not the commission that stands accused of attempting to rig the election.
“The report also says there should be a change in the composition of the commission because it is too politicized. The Carter Centre mentioned this in the past as well as other donor agencies, but one thing that has been ignored is that the threat is not from the commission but the technical staff,” he said.
“It was the technical people who tried to steal the elections, so I want to hear how the international community will address that issue,” Jagdeo said.
