While A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) continue to allege that persons’ signatures were forged on candidate lists as backers for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE), these remain just allegations, because those persons are yet to come forward and make formal complaints to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
On the sidelines of an event at Office of the President on Wednesday, GECOM Chairperson Justice (retired) Claudette Singh was asked about these claims and the Opposition protests around the corner from GECOM that have accompanied the claims. Singh noted that despite these claims, no one has so far come forward and presented any evidence to GECOM.
“They have not brought their evidence. When they bring the evidence to us, we’ll take it from there. But I have not seen anything. They’re making allegations, allegations are not evidence. I use to be a criminal judge, and I know evidence. I was a Police Legal Adviser,” the Chairperson said.
Meanwhile, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud also expounded on what GECOM’s powers are in this instance. He assured that GECOM can only act if persons come forward and formally inform the Secretariat that their signatures have been forged. According to Persaud, persons are yet to do this.
“The whole issue about forged signatures is not something that has been put to us at GECOM. These are things that we have been hearing from the media. Nobody has come forward to say somebody has forged my signature. And even if they did, we do not have the wherewithal to investigate those things. We have no authority to go and investigate that.
“What may be the case is that those things would have to be reported to the Police. It’s a fraud or a forgery. I can’t speak for the Commission, but (the Secretariat) would not be in a position to engage the Police, simply because we do not have the facts. I would expect that the persons who are directly affected by that alleged forgery would be the ones to go and engage the Police.”
Identification
Persaud said it is not enough for persons to simply send in a letter saying they did not give their consent for their signatures to be placed on candidate forms. According to Persaud, such persons have to come forward, engage GECOM and identify themselves, or else GECOM may not be able to do enough to effect a change in the list.
“So we ask those persons, first of all, to identify yourselves that you are in fact the person who is mentioned in the list. And then you have to give us something in writing to substantiate the claim of the misrepresentation of your name in the list. On that basis, we would inform the representative of the concerned list to say your list is now in defect, and you are required to come forward and make a correction,” he explained.
“And so far, we have been successful in that regard,” he said, noting that when persons make representation to GECOM that their names were fraudulently inserted on the list, the Secretariat will, of its own accord, de-recognize that person’s name as a valid name on the list.
Report threats
Meanwhile, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has denied acquiring forged signatures for its candidates. What has happened, according to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill in a video broadcast on Monday, is that APNU/AFC has been bullying persons to withdraw from supporting the party’s candidates.
“I have had the opportunity to put up candidates in all of the constituencies in Linden, a place they pride themselves as if they own Linden…And across the country, my colleagues in every region and in every local authority area did that. We did our political work,” Edghill said.
“A failing, dying, hopeless PNC/R-APNU has now resorted to their campaign of misinformation, misdirection, and obfuscating issues by putting out reckless statements that are filled with lies about the PPP/C and its candidates and electoral backers. What they’ve been doing…they’re using family members and villagers to pressure these candidates and backers to see if they can get them to back away from supporting the PPP/C.”
According to Edghill, a variety of tactics have been used, ranging from targeted harassment to blackmail. Thanking candidates and backers who have held their ground, the Minister urged persons affected to report any threats to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on the special 24-hour hotline set up (226-2917).
