Proposed safeguards for Guyana’s elections being ignored

Dear Editor,

While we continue to demand that a new voters list be published for use in the next Regional and General Elections, it is also necessary that we get the updated population census data in time for those elections.

The census was conducted in 2022 using modern technology and electronic communications and up to now the country cannot see the results of this work.  The reluctance in producing a new voters list and the sloth in releasing even a preliminary census report heighten suspicions about the possible rigging of the next elections by the PPP.

Many safeguards for elections in Guyana have been proposed including the use of biometric technology following the revelations of the recount exercise of the 2020 elections.  The supposed guardians of democracy find it inconvenient to introduce changes in the electoral process that will assure Guyanese that their elections will be an open and fair event.

One gets the impression that the PPP intends to carry on with its skullduggery of manipulating the results of future elections. The litany of corrupt events that seem to emerge daily since the PPP returned to office and the failure of the government to stamp them out add to apprehensions about the integrity of the upcoming elections.

No one has confidence in the current leadership of the Police Force and the unwillingness of the government to rectify the failures of police leadership deepen the suspicions and apprehensions about many things in Guyana, including its elections.  It is for this reason that Guyanese must demand that the census report be released immediately so that some measure of respectability can be attached to the next set of elections.

Yours truly,
Mervyn Williams