$5M fine and three years’ imprisonment for voting obstruction

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, says anyone preventing an elector from voting will be charged under the Representation of the People’s Act (ROPA), pointing out that the fine is $5 million and three years’ imprisonment once found guilty.
He was at the time responding to a clip of an opposition member stating that he will advise his polling agents to prevent voters from casting their ballots if they speak a foreign language in the polling stations during elections.
Speaking on his programme Issues In The News on Tuesday, Nandlall said this statement was reckless, as he gave the reminder that preventing and misleading electors from voting is a criminal offence.
“Now that’s a highly irresponsible and reckless statement for a political leader to make on the eve of elections, or at any time whatsoever. First of all, there is no electoral system in the world that will bar a qualified elector from exercising his or her franchise on the basis of his language or his lingual inabilities. In other words, no system will bar the exercise of a right to vote because a person cannot speak a language,” he noted.
He added that any country which is considered democratic has, in its laws, the facilities to ensure that any registered, qualified elector is allowed to exercise their right to vote, noting that knowledge of a language, or lack thereof, has never been a qualification to vote.
Nandlall said it is discriminatory and xenophobic to target people based on their language.
“Our Representation of The People’s Act creates a series of offences. For anyone who obstructs or otherwise interferes with a person’s right to vote, once that person is a registered elector, and 78 A of ROPA makes it a criminal offence. Any person who, without due authority, obstructs or otherwise interferes with access to or egress from a polling place, B- the voting at an election by any person registered as an elector; C- the conveyance of documents, supplies and other materials pertaining to an election including ballot boxes or ballot papers; D- the counting of votes cast at an election. If you interfere with that…an election officer in the exercise of his function…any polling agent, etcetera, all election officers, if you interfere with them or you obstruct them in the execution of their task then such a person shall be liable on a summary conviction to a fine of five million dollars together with imprisonment for a term of three years,” the AG reminded.
Additionally, Nandlall reminded that any person found liable of these offences will be incapable of being registered as an elector or being elected as a Member of the National Assembly within a period of five years from the date of conviction.
He noted that those who are being encouraged to create these kinds of obstructions should take heed of what is outlined in the law, noting that in Guyana there is a history of misbehaviour during election periods.