By a majority vote, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Thursday decided against issuing certificate of employment to political party agents to facilitate them voting outside of their voting district.
The Elections Commission arrived at the decision on Thursday following a debate.
The three Opposition nominated commissioners had tabled the proposal.
At the conclusion of Thursday’s meeting, Commissioner Vincent Alexander told reporters that he is of the opinion that polling agents, who work outside of their voting division, should be given the opportunity to vote where they are working, but the majority of the commission, including its Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, thought otherwise.
“A decision was taken that it is the functions of the political parties to facilitate those persons voting, and that GECOM would be of no assistance in that regard. We had proposed that there could be legislative change to provide for those persons to vote either by certificate of employment or proxy. It has been rejected a four-three majority,” Commissioner Alexander said.
Weighing in on the matter, Government nominated Election Commissioner, Sase Gunraj said the issue is not new, having been raised in the lead up to the 2011 General and Regional Elections.
Commissioner Gunraj said in both the 2015 and 2020 Elections, no facilities were made by GECOM for polling agents working with political parties to vote, adding that the parties were required to put the requisite system in place to ensure that their agents vote.
However, he said there have been legislative changes to allow for alternative polling agents.
“This is not a new issue, this is not an issue that has come up for the first time. I understand that it was an issue that was dealt with since the 2011 elections. That notwithstanding, the Attorney General has indicated that this issue was considered and resolved by the inclusion of a facility in the amended legislation to allow for alternate polling agents. In the past, a party was allowed one polling agent to be accredited to a polling station, while now, a party is allowed to appoint a polling agent and an alternate polling agent,” Gunraj explained.
The Elections Commission, on Thursday, also examined the issue of Commonwealth citizens, who are domiciled in Guyana and are eligible to vote.
According to the Article 159 of the Constitution, “a Commonwealth citizen who is not a citizen of Guyana, and who is domiciled and resident in Guyana, and has been a resident for a period of one year,” is qualifies to vote.
However, the Opposition Commissioners said while the Constitution is clear on the issue, GECOM has traditionally focused on the “one-year” requirement but has failed to address the need for commonwealth citizens to be domiciled and resident in the country.
Unable to arrive at a consensus, the Commission has ruled that status quo should remain. Another issue regarding the stamping of ballots was also addressed.
In past elections, it was found that while one section of the ballot paper was correctly stamped by the Election officer, the other half from time to time was not stamped.
It was agreed that before the ballot paper is separated for the General and Regional Elections, the presiding officer stamp both sides.
Other proposals put forward by the Opposition Commissioners, including the proposal to underline the names of overseas based Guyanese on the voters’ list, are expected to be addressed when the Elections Commission meets again next Tuesday.
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