GUYANA | Opposition welcomes call by GECOM CEO for new Claims and Objections for LGE Voters List

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, December 6, 2022 - The Opposition Coalition APNU+AFC has welcomed the call by Chief Election Officer and Commissioner of Registration Vishnu Persaud, for the Guyana Elections Commission to undertake a 14-days Claims and Objections exercise to  correct the voters list for the Local Government Elections.

During a press conference today, Opposition Member of Parliament, Roysdale Forde said the Opposition feels vindicated by the intervention of the Chief Election Officer who has adopted the claims by the Opposition of the need to produce a list in compliance with the requirements of the law.

Forde pointed out that It was the APNU+AFC that first indicated that the list published by GECOM was not in compliance with the law. This, he said, was  followed up with a court action last week, filed by the coalition’s Chief Scrutineer over the issue.

The Opposition MP told the media that although GECOM carried out a Claims and Objections exercise earlier this year, the Elections Commission failed to produce a list in compliance with its own obligations.

He said GECOM’s responsibility was not simply to produce a list and publish it, but to ensure that that list was above scrutiny.  Forde lamented that GECOM’s publication of the list, contrary to the law, is shameful and disappointing.

“The reason why I refer to the failure of the Guyana Elections Commission to produce the list, because it is manifest that the Guyana Elections Commission without regard for its obligation simply put the list out there, the same list which was largely a list of dead persons would not have been qualified to vote in any event, simply put a list of persons who are not resident in local authority area, just put it out there and the citizens must come to correct it, that is fundamentally flawed  and unacceptable,” Forde exclaimed.

“Our preliminary investigations revealed that the list, as printed, does not properly and accurately capture changes of constituency boundaries. 

There are persons who ought to have been in new boundaries and are outside of them, and persons who are within new boundaries as published by the list, and are not properly so placed based on the requirements,” Forde noted.

The Opposition said it has armed itself with evidence of persons who have died, still being on the voters list for the upcoming elections.

Forde said the list also has people in specific local authority areas when they have moved from those areas.

The GECOM Chief Election Officer has warned that the Elections Commission could find itself in trouble if it does not adequately address some of the concerns raised by the Opposition.

With this new issue coming to the fore, the March 13, 2023 date for the hosting of Local Government Elections appears to be in limbo.

According to MP Forde, the blame should now be placed at the feet of the government since it has refused to pay attention to various issues raised by the Opposition.