With focus beyond electoral laws, constitutional reform process to begin in 2023

Consultations on Guyana’s electoral laws are ongoing but amid calls for a focus on wider election and constitutional changes as well, the government has promised that the constitutional reform process will address those concerns.

This is according to the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC who addressed a National Stakeholders consultation on the draft amendments to Guyana’s main electoral laws on Tuesday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Liliendaal, Georgetown.

According to him, the government has already explained that this consultative process focuses specifically on the review of those laws.

But Nandall said that amending these laws, after consultations with stakeholders, is only part of the focus on reviewing Guyana’s legal framework.

In fact, he reminded the gathering that a new, consensual Constitutional Reform Bill is before the National Assembly. The Bill proposes a new Constitutional Reform Commission to help review the country’s laws.

It is expected that all concerns related to the country’s supreme law will be addressed, including desired changes at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), people’s qualifications to vote and how electoral disputes are settled (including which courts have jurisdiction).

Addressing concerns that the ongoing consultations are too narrow, Nandlall pointedly said, “This engagement cannot address those matters.”

“… this criticism continues to emanate though we have explained repeatedly from the beginning what its scope (of these consultations) is and what is its limitations.”

In the aftermath of the March 2020 general and regional elections during which attempts were made at rigging the results, the PPP/C government has embarked on a process of amending the Representation of the People Act (RoPA), which is Guyana’s main electoral law.

There are proposed amendments for the National Registration Act, another electoral law.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, at the same forum, highlighted that the constitutional reform process is expected to begin in early 2023.