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REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT

An Act to make provision for the election of members of the National Assembly under a system of Proportional Representation and for purposes connected therewith.

(25TH, SEPTEMBER, 1964)

Guyana: Electoral Law, 1964

Section 86

http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Ele...Guyana/guyrep01.html

86

1. No person shall be present at the counting of the votes except-

  a. the returning officer and such other election officers as he may appoint to assist him in the counting.

  b. the Minister, members of the Commission and members of any team of observers appointed by the minister;

  c. duly appointed candidates;

  d. counting agents;

  e. such other persons as, in the opinion of the returning officer, have good reason to be present.

6. The returning officer shall give the counting agents all such reasonable facilities for overseeing the proceedings and all such information with respect thereto as he can give them consistent with the orderly conduct of the proceedings and with the discharge of his duties in connection therewith.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT

An Act to make provision for the election of members of the National Assembly under a system of Proportional Representation and for purposes connected therewith.

(25TH, SEPTEMBER, 1964)

Guyana: Electoral Law, 1964

Section 84

http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Ele...Guyana/guyrep01.html

PART IX
COUNTING OF VOTES POLLED

84.

1. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the votes cast at the polling places in each district shall be counted by the returning officer of that district in accordance with the provisions of this Part.

2. If the Chief Election Officer is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient in the interests of the carrying out of the provisions of this Part with due despatch or security he may, by notice published in the Gazette, direct that for the purposes of the counting of the votes the returning officers of districts specified in the notice shall count the votes for their respective districts at a place appointed by the said notice and this Act shall have effect accordingly.

3. Where the Chief Election Officer has given a direction pursuant to subsection (29)

  a. he may designate one of the returning officers of the districts specified in the notice to exercise general direction and supervision over the counting of votes at the place so appointed;

  b. references in this Part to election officers, duly appointed candidates and counting agents shall have effect as if they included references to such persons appointed in respect of any of the districts in respect of which the direction applies.

FM

Failure to have transparent electoral process could lead to dictatorship-Goolsarran

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If Guyana does not see an electoral process that is transparent and representative of the will of the people, then it could very well end up with a dictatorship on its hands. This point was alluded to by Chartered Account and Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran in his recent writings.

In his column which was published by Stabroek News, Goolsarran said, “â€ĶThe failure to count each ballot cast in an open and transparent manner thwarts the will of the people to elect a government of their choice, and can lead to a tendency towards authoritarianism and eventually dictatorship.” When this happens, the Chartered Accountant said that the highest form of accountability – accountability to the people – is destroyed; and all other forms of accountability collapse around it.

Further to this, the former Auditor General said, “We have witnessed how the electoral process was severely tampered with on four occasions during the period 1968 to 1985, to produce a government that did not represent the will of the people. By 1981, the country had ground to a halt economically and was declared technically bankrupt.”

On this note, Goolsarran asserted that no amount of oil wealth will save Guyana from economic disaster if respect is not shown for the will of the people and their right to elect a government of their choice to manage on their behalf, the affairs of the State.

Furthermore, when one considers all that has played out with the 2020 General and Regional Elections thus far, the transparency advocate said it leaves one to question whether Guyanese are actually witnessing the first sign of the ‘resource curse’.

FM
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