HGP Nightly News – Forward Guyana Movement leader Amanza Walton is calling on opposition parties to settle the dispute over their seats on the Guyana Elections Commission through compromise rather than confrontation, warning that continued infighting could demoralise supporters and possibly push the matter into court.
Speaking on Dr. David Hinds’ Politics 101 programme, Walton proposed that the opposition’s three GECOM seats be shared among APNU, WIN and Forward Guyana.
She said the opposition must recognise that the political landscape has changed and avoid treating the appointments as a winner-take-all contest.
“What is within our power is how the opposition utilises this moment for renewal,” Walton said. “APNU gets one, you retain one of the commissioners that were put there by APNU because they have significant institutional memory. WIN gets one. Forward Guyana gets one. And we move on with the business of the people.”
Walton argued that since the opposition is constitutionally limited to three seats on GECOM, regardless of how opposition support is divided in Parliament, a negotiated arrangement would be the most practical path forward.
The debate over GECOM appointments has sharpened amid questions about whether a change in parliamentary opposition leadership gives the new opposition leader the authority to replace sitting commissioners.
Veteran opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander, who also appeared on Politics 101 on June 23, rejected the view that commissioners can be automatically recalled because of a change in opposition leadership.
Alexander said the Constitution protects commissioners from political pressure in order to preserve the integrity of the electoral process. Still, he acknowledged that GECOM’s work has often been affected by partisan deadlock and called for broader reform of the electoral management system.
Walton also addressed her recent exclusion from a parliamentary committee, saying the issue was larger than any personal slight.
“This is not about Amanza being left off of a committee,” she said. “It is for me an indication of the system failing to contemplate that a duly elected representative of the people should be able to sit on a committee.”
She criticised those who celebrated the exclusion of some lawmakers, arguing that when elected representatives are restricted, the citizens who voted for them also lose influence.
“Because we confuse parliament with personalities, we are missing the point that we keep losing our power,” Walton said.
Walton also raised concern about changes to parliamentary oversight, including the decision for the Economic Services Committee to meet quarterly instead of monthly. She said the reduced schedule points to a government that is “afraid of scrutiny.”
The FGM leader said the party remains committed to its ballot access case before the Caribbean Court of Justice. The case was filed after the group was excluded from the election ballot last year.
Walton said that despite the cost of the legal challenge, the case remains important to opening Guyana’s political system and breaking what she described as the recurring cycle of traditional two-party politics.
