Electoral Reform should be must before Election says AFC

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has announced Local Government Elections will be held by late November to December. Various sections of society and the international community, particularly after the 2020 Election, pointed out the Voters List is seriously flawed and should be corrected.

The Alliance For Change (AFC), at its press conference on Friday, restated the well-known fact that “a new voters list is the demand of most Guyanese.” Drawing attention to the recent International Republican Institute’s survey that found 81% of Guyanese feel electoral reforms are necessary, the party said this is testimony to the magnitude of the problem.

Also pointed out were comments from international observers and civil society organisations, including the Carter Centre, European Union, the Organisation of America States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM, who monitored the election processes in Guyana and called for a house-to-house registration that will produce a new voters list. This is a fundamental requirement to electoral reform in Guyana, said the party.

Identifying recommendations by various organisations it was reminded the OAS called for “undertaking a house-to-house registration exercise earliest;” and CARICOM sees “as a minimum condition for electoral reform… the urgent need for a total re-registration of all voters in Guyana.”

GECOM was called on by CARICOM “to create a new voters registry especially given the suspicion that the 2020 register was bloated, a suspicion which is not without merit,” reminded the AFC.

In spite of the observations, including the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in 2005, and continuous  push by Opposition-nominated Commissioners to create a new list, GECOM continues to ignore the obvious and is preparing for LGE under the corroded list.

Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Aubrey Norton, on Tuesday in a press conference, drew attention the recently released new Preliminary Voters List (PLE) has 684,354 names which represents over 91% of the total population of Guyana.

President Irfaan Ali recently said the List is not the problem. Drawing attention to the duplicity the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), the AFC said it is interesting to recall Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo speaking on behalf of the PPP/C, “after the 2015 Elections is recorded advocating for “[a] new voters’ list to be compiled on the basis of a fresh house to house enumeration …[b]ut today, he sings another tune.”

Including in electoral reform AFC wants to see the use of modernised biometrics. The party is expressing alarm that GECOM continues to collect data such as fingerprints in old, outdated methods that go back to the 1900’s as they also announced support for biometrics for purposes of voter identification at the place of poll.

Given the bloated list the “AFC considers it wholly unreasonable that GECOM would announce a period of Claims – August 22 to September 11 and Objections – August 22 to September 18 – a total of 28 days to scrutinise and cleanse this list of 684,354 which is felt to be almost in excess of 200,000 voters.”   GECOM is not interested in providing a realistic timeframe for proper scrutiny, said the party.