The Familiar Ring of the Elections Season
By Ralph Ramkarran – 6th October 2018
Local government elections are to be held on November 12. With it, the never-ending stream of suspicions emerged as the Government established new local government units and merged others. The Opposition argued that these were done to give an advantage to the Government and the Opposition, through one of its representatives, promptly launched legal proceedings. This event provided the explanation for the ‘disappearance’ of the Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield, on one of the most critical days of the elections process, namely, the day after the submission of lists, when corrections have to be made and defects rectified. Continue reading
Guyana: Proposed Amendments to Elections Law Totally Inadequate – By Ralph Ramkarran
B
y Ralph Ramkarran – Conversation Tree Blog – November 13, 2021
The amendments to the elections’ laws proposed by the Government through the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill are woefully inadequate. They are limited to the following: imposing higher penalties for elections’ offences; creating new elections’ offences with high penalties; adumbrating a new structure for District (Region) 4; and establishing new offices for District 4. Having now demonstrated a mindset of where it wants to go by the contents of the Bill, the Government is unlikely to divert from this already decided course, except perhaps with minor amendments.
But much more is required, and this was the opportunity to accomplish needed reforms in other areas of the electoral system, especially since the next elections are four years away. I have written extensively, but vainly, about elections’ reform over several years. I now take the opportunity to repeat some of those ideas. Continue reading →
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