Our Proposal for Structural Reform

The Constitution (2:09) says that “Sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it through their representatives and the democratic organs established by or under this Constitution.”

The problem is that the Constitution itself and supporting law create a system that puts much restriction on how the people, the citizens, are involved in decision-making at the highest level.  There are currently two types of government in Guyana – central government and local government.

Local government

Let’s start with local government at its basic level – the elections for the lower form of local government are to be held every two years in Local Government Elections or LGEs.  These elections determine the composition of two main types of local government authorities – the neighbourhood democratic councils (NDCs) and the municipalities.  There is also another form of local governance specific to indigenous communities called the toshao system where a village head, the toshao, is elected along with a council.

What most people do not realize is that there is higher level of local government, the regional democratic councils (RDCs) system, that has oversight for the overall local government infrastructure.  The RDCs are elected every five years or whenever there are general elections.  This is why the exercise is called the General and Regional elections.

Central Government and Parliament

In the General Elections, people vote for a particular party according to a list of candidates, headed by a presidential candidate.  These lists compete for a total of 65 parliamentary seats, out of which 40 are chosen via the national top section of the list and 25 representing geographical seats.  The geographical seats are distributed among the administrative regions, depending on the population of the region.  For example, Region 8 which has the lowest population in Guyana has one geographic seat, while Region 4, the largest population base, has seven seats.   It should be noted that for a party list to compete in the national election, it must have representation from a minimum of six out of the ten geographic regions in addition to a national top-up list

The party that gains the most parliamentary seats gets to select the President who in turn gets to choose the entire executive government, or what is termed ‘winner-take-all’, from elected representatives.  When we add to the fact that the current Constitution gives very wide powers to the President and offers no real penalty for presidential misconduct or abuse of power, what we get is a system that removes representation as far away from the people as possible within an ostensibly democratic system.

What We Propose

We believe that the more directly accountable a top decision-maker is to the people, the more responsible that person is going to be in their decision-making.  What we propose is simple.

Firstly, we flip the current structure of geographic representation versus the national top-up structure in seat allocation by proportionately doubling the current 25 geographic seats in parliament to 50, and reducing the national seats to 15.

Secondly, we merge the geographic seat system with the regional democratic council system, creating a true constituency-based system for the larger part of the national assembly.  Parties contesting within a regional administrative area simply have to present a list of candidates as they would in the regional elections – the number of nominators per list would be dependent upon the number of candidates required per list.  There would be no minimum regional requirement as a hurdle for participation.  After elections, parliamentary seats are then allocated proportionately according to performance.  These regional seats would constitute a lower house within a bicameral legislature.

Thirdly, we create the upper house in the bicameral legislature based upon a national list system where a candidate for president has to present a list of 30 to 45 persons from whom they would select parliamentarians to represent them in the upper house.  It is from this upper house that the executive would be appointed.

Finally, we separate the general (upper house) and regional (lower house) elections into two separate and overlapping four-year cycles.  For example, if general elections are to be held in 2028 and then 2032, then regional elections would be held in 2030 and 2034.

Basic Rules

Lower House – elected by voters registered within the specific region on a candidate list system that adheres to our constitutional reform stipulations of 40 percent women candidates and 30 percent youth candidates.  Selected regional officials are then elected by regional councils for available parliamentary seats.  Power of recall exists at the level of regional councils on basis of a super majority.

Upper House – elected by all registered voters in the country on a candidate list system that also adheres to our constitutional reform stipulations of 40 percent women candidates and 30 percent youth candidates.

We are proposing that there are a standard number of 15 cabinet portfolios with a corresponding number of junior ministerial portfolios, with any additional portfolios requiring a super majority in the upper house.

In the interest of codifying shared governance, a minimum of three cabinet portfolios must be offered to opposition parties in the case of a majority executive, and a minimum of five cabinet portfolios in the case of a minority executive.   Additionally, a minimum of five junior minister portfolios should be offered to the opposition, and a maximum of three to non-elected members of the house.   At no time should the combined number of cabinet and junior ministers be less than 40 percent women and 30 percent youth.

Local Government – under the proposed system, local government elections would continue, as they should currently, every two years but with the authority of central government removed over municipalities and NDCs, and dispute resolution vested within the judiciary.