GECOM holds briefing sessions with Coalition, Opposition

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) have commenced briefing sessions with the major political parties as the country prepares for the March 2, 2020 regional and general elections.

Government Chief Whip and Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, told the Guyana Chronicle that the governing coalition– A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC)– engaged GECOM in a briefing session earlier in the day on Saturday.
She said the opposition’s People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was also briefed by the electoral body on Saturday. PPP officials also confirmed that party’s participation in the session.
Ally noted that all parties within the coalition are prepared to engage the elections body in such sessions.

In a notice published in the daily newspapers on Saturday, GECOM said that on December 19, 2019, it will host a briefing session at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre with all parties interested in taking part in the March 2020 polls.

GECOM has already set aside January 10, 2020, as Nominations Day.
Each contesting political party must submit each of the Lists of Candidates on Nominations Day, one National Top-Up List, at least six Geographical Constituencies’ Lists and the Regional Democratic Councils’ Lists that the given Party may seek to contest on that day.
The various Lists of Candidates must comprise registered voters who are eligible to be elected as members of the National Assembly.

The governing coalition– A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change– is seeking re-election for a second term.

Several weeks ago, Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, and Chair of the Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, told reporters at a press briefing that GECOM is on track for elections on March 2, 2019, as plans such as the procurement of election materials and the preparation of polling stations and staff are falling into place.
On elections day, Lowenfield said that there will be more or less 2,350 polling stations countrywide – susceptible to change based on the commission’s decisions on the use of private residences for polling stations.

Training for polling day staff has already been completed with a total of 13,500 persons trained, who will be retrained at the appropriate time.

As the date for elections nears, a number of small parties have been formed and their leaders have announced their intention to contest next year’s elections.

The list includes the Liberty and Justice Party, Change Guyana, the New Movement, the Citizen’s Initiative and the Peoples Republic Party, dubbed the ‘pastors party’, among others.