All the political parties and groups/individuals contesting the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) with defects on their Lists of Candidates and Backers that were submitted to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Nomination Day have been corrected.
This is according to GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud on Thursday. When contacted, he told Guyana Times that Wednesday, April 26 was the cut-off date for those contesting the June 12 LGE to have those errors fixed.
“The 26th of April was the last day that any party with defects on their list could make corrections… All of the lists that had defects were corrected,” he informed.
GECOM had previously stated that this statutory procedure following Nomination Day would ensure that all the legal requirements are met by the contestants in order for their Lists of Candidates to be approved to contest in the elections.
Corrected/resolved
Meanwhile, during a press conference on Thursday, ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that there were six discrepancies his Party had to correct and this was done.
“The process [for corrections to be made after Nomination Day] is closed already and GECOM, I think, has given the letter saying the lists are all okay,” Jagdeo indicated.
According to the PPP General Secretary, the Party submitted over 27,000 names and signatures – 2020 candidates and 25,000 backers – to GECOM and it was, therefore, expected that there would be some mistakes.
“We knew there would be some discrepancies… But 99 per cent of the allegations [of fraud being peddled by the People’s National Congress (PNC)-A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Opposition against the PPP] are just that – allegations. There are no basis in fact,” Jagdeo contended.
Among the issues the Party had to resolve was the presence of the signature of a dead woman, Cheryl Jacob, on one of the lists of backers from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) – District #5. But Jagdeo explained that these lists were compiled since last year and the woman only died about a week before the April 17 Nomination Day.
“It’s not a case where they resurrected a dead person and signed their name… The people, who were sending forward the list, were not vigilant enough to take off her name as a backer… But her husband is part of our team and he is campaigning with us. I spoke with Mr Jacob and today, he is in the field; he’s campaigning,” the General Secretary noted.
Another issue that was raised is the name of an overseas-based person on another list. But Jagdeo disclosed that after some groundwork, it was found that the candidate for the constituency had enlisted someone to gather the signatures of backers and that person said he thought that he could have used the name of someone not in the country.
“But we made it clear that they had to replace it immediately,” the PPP Leader stated.
However, even as the ruling party was able to track down the discrepancies on its lists and have them remedied, it was similarly able to identify defects on some of the lists submitted by the APNU Opposition.
One such instance, Jagdeo highlighted, was the name of a resident in Lodge, Georgetown, who is currently overseas, but his name and signature are on the Opposition’s list.
Intimidation and bullying
Moreover, the PPP General Secretary went on to highlight the many cases of intimidation and bullying against persons who are supporting the ruling party especially in areas that are traditionally known as strongholds of the PNC Reform – the leading party in the APNU alliance.
He pointed to a template that was generated at Congress Place, which had the signatures of 13 persons retracting their support for the PPP. But Jagdeo said many of those persons have called and explained that they were being “pressured” to do so.
“They were fearful for their lives. Some of those people called me and they said ‘we live in a hostile community and they’ll harass us and our children so we chose to [sign the template], but we’re still supportive [of the PPP]’,” he related.
To this end, Jagdeo urged persons being intimidated and terrorised to make a report at the Police station so that appropriate actions could be taken against those perpetrators.
“I think the people have to go to the Police,” Jagdeo insisted.
He added too that those who found their names fraudulently on any party’s list should also file reports with the Police.
Only last week, the PPP had complained that its backers were being bullied to withdraw their support for the party in Region Five by known Opposition members.
The PPP has already indicated its intention to contest all 610 constituencies in the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs) across the country.
At the last LGE held in November 2018, the then PPP/C Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 LAAs. This had followed the holding of the 2016 local government polls, where the PPP/C had also claimed the majority of the LAAs.
