Preparations for the highly anticipated Local Government Elections appear to be at a standstill, as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is still locked in discussions on the demarcation of several constituency boundaries.

The move became necessary to correct the ‘unlawful’ formation of constituencies by the Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall.

“We are still to determine the boundaries for the new and affected constituencies,” Election Commissioner Vincent Alexander told News Source today.

Last December, the Elections Commission asked the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud to demarcate a number of constituency boundaries, having ruled that the Local Government Minister had no jurisdiction to create constituencies.

But Mr Alexander said the conduct of the exercise has been brought into question.

“Questions have been raised about the manner in which the exercise has been pursued. A document search is to be done to determine whether criteria were previously developed for such an exercise” he explained.

Contacted by News Source today, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Warde confirmed that the matter is still under active discussion.

“There is still a lot of deliberations happening at the level of the Commission in relation to the constituency boundaries. I know with the logistics team along with registration officers for the respective areas did some field work, but of course, there is still quite a lot of discussions happening at the level of the Commission surrounding that issue,” she said.

According to the PRO, once the Commission arrives at a decision on the demarcation exercise, the public will be informed.

Local Government Elections were scheduled for March 13, 2023, however, confronted with a number of issues including a legal challenge by the Opposition, the Elections Commission was forced to postpone Nomination Day in December/

The opposition APNU+AFC had challenged the validity of the Voters’ List heading into those elections.

The Commission’s PRO said once the issues regarding the constituency boundaries are rectified, the Secretariat will again draft up another plan for the conduct of the local elections.

“With these matters to be ironed out at the Commission in relation to the boundaries, once that hurdle is crossed, and a new work plan is presented to the Commission, and approved by the Commission, it is only at that point we would be in a better position to advise on the next step, particularly in relation to a possible date for the holding of Elections,” Ms Warde explained.

She was keen on noting that while the Elections Secretariat is conducting continuous registration in accordance with the National Registration (Amendment) Act of 2022, the new work plan for LGE will include a period for a fresh round of claims and objections.

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