The Institute for Action Against Discrimination (IAAD) has unequivocally condemned actions of candidates of the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) who allegedly engaged in forgery to satisfy the requirements of their candidacy. The issue relates to information submitted on Nomination Day, April 17, to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the Local Government Elections (LGE) scheduled on June 12, 2023
In a statement the anti-discrimination group has called on the Guyana Police Force to urgently investigate the allegations and institute the relevant charges if these allegations can be substantiated.
There have been several reports, accompanied by evidence, of PPP candidates engaging in acts that could be considered fraudulent. Names of dead persons, persons resident abroad, persons unaware their names were used, persons who used thumbprint names appeared signing the various lists as nominators of candidates, among other evidence of electoral irregularities.
PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo was forced to apologise to the daughter of a deceased woman who appeared on a PPP list as a nominator. The deceased husband’s name also appeared on the list without his consent, resulting in the daughter demanding the PPP “FIX IT!!!!”
Several persons have since come forward and exposed the PPP fraudulent actions.
Mr. Roysdale Forde, S.C, M.P in a previous report told Village Voice News whilst he recognised the apology to the daughter, the family’s pain and expressed concern about their loved one’s signature being forged on an electoral document, the act constitutes a transgression of the law which must be followed up with an investigation that leads to accountability.
“Whilst Mr. Jagdeo’s apology addressed the family’s concern, it skirts the issue of electoral fraud, which is what every Guyanese, including the President Ali government, should be concerned with and keep their eyes on.”
Forde said in his professional opinion as a lawyer, dealing with legal matters, Jagdeo’s apology to the family is insufficient. “There should be an investigation where the guilty party is found and held accountable. Forgery is an illegal act and, in such instance, compromises our electoral system. Everyone must be held accountable to law and violations of law lead to breakdown in society.”
Meanwhile, the IAAD said the organisation noted the Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Vishnu Persaud’s comment in relation to these allegations and cautioned that GECOM has a responsibility to deliver credible elections.
Last Wednesday Persaud said GECOM was not empowered legally to investigate allegations of forgery related to the nomination process for the LGE. According to Persaud “When they come to us, we ascertain the accuracy of the information provided to us. We were never charged, and we are not charged with ascertaining whether the signatures on those forms are in fact the signatures of the people who purportedly they belong to and, therefore, we will never know whether it is a forged signature or not and we don’t have the capacity to investigate these things to determine whether they are false.” He advised persons whose signatures are forged have the duty to make the report to GECOM’s Returning Officers in the respective regions.
However, IAAD warned “the facilitation of fraudulent nomination information into the electoral process will inevitably generate a falsified output.”
The body expressed concern that it is obvious GECOM is lacking the capacity to deliver free, fair, and credible elections and is therefore requesting LGE be postponed and the operations of GECOM be reviewed by a competent body prior to the holding of any election.
Last Thursday the Opposition, A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), warned “these blatant acts of fraud by the PPP amount to an orchestrated attempt to rig the 2023 LGE. They expose the PPP’s desperation and waning popularity among the Guyanese people. Worse, they are high criminal acts that must be punished by the full force of the law.”
The IAAD advised credible elections are the crux of a stable democracy and demands GECOM deliver free, fair, and credible elections. “To do otherwise is an abrogation of responsibilities with the potential concomitant results of strife and civil disobedience. A situation that the nation can ill afford,” IAAD warned.
