By Svetlana Marshall

With the General and Regional Elections set to take place in September, the Government used its majority in the National Assembly today to pass the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2025 to provide for “Deputy Supernumerary Returning Officers,” primarily for polling sub-districts in Regions 3, 4, and 6.

Rising in defence of the Bill, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said the amendment is intended to further strengthen the country’s electoral system, and add to the safeguards in place to prevent electoral fraud.

He explained that in crafting the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill of 2022, the Government omitted to include in the definition of a Supernumerary officer, a Deputy Supernumerary officer.

“In the amendments, which we did, we did not include a deputy for the supernumerary officer, and that is all that this bill intended to correct…When I realized the omission, I thought that common sense and logic would have allowed for an elastic interpretation that would accommodate the omission,” the Attorney General explained.

However, he said it could not “be left to chance,” as such the Government took decision to correct the omission.

Traditionally, the Statements of Poll (SOPs) were tabulated in a centralized location in every electoral district under the supervision of a Returning Officer (RO). However, with the passage of the 2022 Amendment, the law now provides for the tabulation process to be decentralized.

Come September 1, the SOPs will be tabulated in electoral sub-districts.

In Region 4, there are four sub-districts – East Bank Demerara, East Coast Demerara, North Georgetown and South Georgetown.

Minister Nandlall said the Supernumerary Officers backed by their Deputies would be managing the tabulation process in the sub-districts.

“It simply means that, that exercise that we all famously saw or that famous exercise that we all saw at the beginning of March 3^rd at Ashmin’s Building at the corners of Hadfield Street and Avenue of the Republic, that grand exercise that we all saw, will not take place in Region 4 at four different centres. That obviously is being done to avoid the fraudulent fiasco which erupted at Ashmin’s building and to avoid the electoral miscreants from unfolding their plans,” he said.

He indicated to the House that the Government has decided to remove the amendment to Section 33 (C) (1) of the Principal Act from the proposed Bill.

Minister of Local Government, Sonia Parag said the amendment was a simple one, and ought to have received the full support of the House.

“What we have now inserted reflects the practical structure being used in our elections. One that allows greater decentralization of tabulation, quicker response times after the close of polls, and more effective oversights of subdistricts. No, longer should we have to be sitting in a country waiting five months for the results of the elections,” Minister Parag said.

Opposition Member of Parliament, Roysdale Forde said it was “right” and “proper” for the Attorney General to delete Clause 3 from the Bill, which was originally intended to amend Section 33 (C) (1) of the Representation of the People Act.

He said the Government has not put enough effort in ensuring the stage is set for free and fair elections.

“Mr. Speaker for the last five years, this Government has bandied about and said publicly about its commitment to a fair electoral system. But it has failed to bring before this honourable house the sort of legislation, the sort of amendments which would guarantee, really and truly a fair, proper and credible electoral system for this country. Mr. Speaker, if this bill had passed, the elect of it, really and truly, would have been to confer on the Guyana Elections Commission, particularly the Commissioner of Registration, the Chief Election Officer with a very disturbing power and authority to exercise a discretion in relation to whether persons who are qualified to vote would be allowed to be registered and to permit persons who are disqualified to remain on the register,” Forde argued.

Forde said the now deleted amendment is just one example of an attempt by the Government to rob Guyanese of a free and fair electoral system. He argued that the Government has failed to implement to the menu of recommendations put forward by both regional and international missions following the 2020 Elections.

Citing the recommendations put forward by both CARICOM and OAS Observation Missions, MP Forde said the Government has refused to support calls to addressed the bloated Voters’ List addressed. 

APNU+AFC Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan also railed into the Government, telling the House that Government has taken a “haphazard approach” to addressing electoral reform, adding that many of the legislation tabled are intended to serve the interest of the ruling party.

“We have had to deal with the gerrymandering of our boundaries. All of that then to favor the incumbent government. It was GECOM itself, it was GECOM itself that pulled back, that spoke very strongly that it had the remit to change the boundaries, not the Minister of Local Government. You look at the legislation that pertains to the residency requirement and what they have done with that, all of that seeks to perpetuate the PPP in Government. You look to see what they have done for instance with the Birth Certificate issue, in terms of the Registration of Birth and Death Amendment Act of 2021, and it goes to perpetuate the PPP being in power,” MP Duncan argued.

After hours of debate, the Bill was passed with the amendment. Opposition MPs Amanza Walton-Desir, Ganesh Mahipaul and Tabitha Sarabo-Halley as well as the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha also contributed to the debate.

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