Re-examination of electoral system necessary – President Granger.

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Guyana’s current electoral system could be reexamined and modified in the future, once this current electoral process is over. This is according to His Excellency, President David Granger.

The President addressed the matter during a segment of NCN’s Context programme, hosted by veteran journalist Enrico Woolford.

“Maybe sometime in the future there could be a re-examination of the process and a modification of the process if it is found to be inadequate,” President Granger stated.

He reminded that proportional representation was introduced in December 1964, and that system has remained in place since then.

Later on, in the 1992 elections, the Head of State said a plan called “The Carter/Price formula” was adopted. The President said this has to be examined to determine whether it is the best means of arriving at an outcome which all the parties could be satisfied with.

The Carter-Price formula was created by former United States of America President, Jimmy Carter and former Prime Minister of Belize, George Price.  Reports on the method indicate that it comes up short in terms of speedy decision making.

These matters though, the President said are for constitutional reform.

“But it is quite clear that the way we are going about elections now, the fact that we have waited several weeks for the result is not necessarily the best, we have to look for a more efficient system after we get past this present separation period.”.

Adding that the current problem has not been resolved because some parties still believe in a winner takes all formula. This formula, he noted, has been abandoned by his own coalition, the APNU+AFC.

“To escape from this winner takes all system; a coalition is the way to go. “We need to adapt inclusionary democracy and we need to educate our supporters to support this formula,” President Granger stated