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The A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition on Friday called on the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government to swiftly provide funds to the Guyana Elections Commission for the conduct of House-to-House registration.
“We call on the PPP regime to ensure that there are budgetary allocations for GECOM to allow for House-to-House registration to be conducted in 2021 without any hindrance or delay,” said People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Executive Aubrey Norton at the Leader of the Opposition’s weekly virtual press conference.
Norton has expressed much optimism that the Coalition will be successful at the hearing of the two Election Petition cases which are to be heard by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George.
On Thursday, the Chief Justice held a virtual Case Management Conference and has set November 24 as the date to hear legal arguments on whether the Petitions filed by the Coalition could be nullified based on a technicality.
The Coalition has called for the Petitions to be heard swiftly without any delaying tactics, manoeuvres or shenanigans by the members of the PPP Government.
“We have taken note that during the Case Management Conference yesterday, that the attorneys for Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo signalled their intention to challenge the Elections Petitions on a procedural basis. This smacks of desperation and fear. In fact, it is yet another signal to the nation and the world that the PPP is exceedingly worried. Our case is strong. All and sundry know what the recount revealed. It revealed electoral fraud committed by the PPP. The PPP is therefore concerned about the strength of our case and is seeking to ensure that the petitions are not heard and to have them thrown out on some spurious procedural issue,” Norton said.
The Coalition is calling also on the Elections Commission to ready itself for the House-to-House registration process to allow for a fresh Official List of Electors. The Opposition had repeatedly said that the elements of fraud seen in the March 2020 General and Regional Elections were, in part, as a result of the bloated Voters’ List.
“We are confident that the Elections Petitions will be successful and that Guyana will return to elections soon. When elections are next held in Guyana it is absolutely imperative that it be held with a new, clean and credible voters list which is based on House-to-House registration,” Norton declared.
Meanwhile, Norton who is also the Executive Director in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, said though there is an urgent need for House-to-House registration to take place, there is no rush for electoral reform as this must be carefully considered and done systematically. He said the Coalition is open to discussions in this regard while noting that the reform must not benefit one political party but the people of Guyana.
Norton posited that electoral reform is must be looked at holistically and analysed.
Recently, the Government of Guyana announced that it is seeking the assistance of the Canadian Government to help reform its electoral legislation.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandall said the aim is to ensure there is no repeat of the events which unfolded after the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
“The Government has committed to looking at the Representation of the People Act (RPA) and other pieces of legislations to reform them to cover all the loopholes that have been exploited by the political fraudsters after the elections,” Nandlall said.
The Attorney General said that among the proposed reforms is ensuring that Statements of Poll (SOPs) are published by the respective political parties on a website and made public within hours of receipt.
Efforts will also be made to ensure oversight mechanisms are in place to scrutinise the work of the Returning Officers (RO), thereby guarding against the declaration of false results.
The proposal also includes a system where employment procedures and practices are used to ensure the best candidates are selected to work at elections, and to also have fixed qualifications, character references and testimonials for those officials.
It is also seeking to ensure that there is a heavy penal system accompanying electoral offences that will deter any election official from doing wrong.
