PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ELECTIONS’ LAW WOEFULLY INADEQUATE

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. […]

THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER

October 5 will mark the 29th anniversary of the return of free and fair elections to Guyana in 1992, and the first attempt since then to restore the dark days of election rigging. The latter event has underlined the importance of the former, and the need to write about it. The argument of equivalence, which […]

THE STORMING OF THE US CAPITOL

It is difficult to avoid the shocking events of Wednesday last in the United States of America. But whatever the politics of those of us who are not US citizens, however limited our understanding of US history and politics, and whatever criticisms we may have of American domestic and foreign policies, it is a matter […]

LEAVING BEHIND – THE YEAR OF THE HALF PERSON

By this time, the year of the half person would have passed. It took three courts to finally resolve this jurisprudential conundrum. The argument advanced to overturn the no confidence vote of 33/32 against the Government on 21 December, 2018, was that while mathematically, half of 65 members of the National Assembly is 32½, the […]

CURBING ELECTORAL MALPRACTICE

The PPP/C’s accepted defeat by 5,000 votes in 2015 and promptly departed from office, without a recount of votes in some challenged areas. It was generally believed that with a smooth political transition, the era of debilitating election controversies had come to an end and future results would be accepted, even if challenged in court, […]