The Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have repeatedly claimed that the Official List of Electors is ‘bloated’ with persons who ought not to be eligible to vote, including the names of deceased individuals.
Attorney General and Minister on Tuesday evening, again, challenged the parties to produce evidence to substantiate their claims, remining that the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) Claims and Objections exercise provided an opportunity for them to contribute to the cleansing of the list.
“The claims and objections mechanism provided a platform for them, not to prove the tens of thousands, to prove one…How about prove five or prove ten. [They] cannot prove one and you expect any self-respecting organisation or sensible person to take you seriously,” he challenged during his weekly programme ‘Issues in the news.’
The Claims and Objections period is used by GECOM to facilitate the addition or removal of names from the voters list. Notably, names are only removed once a person is deceased which must be proven with a death certificate, in accordance with rulings of the court.
“Come forward and show the public that the voters list has bloat or is bloated or there are persons on that list who should not be on that list,” Nandlall said to the opposition.
GECOM recently reported that during its first Claims and Objections exercise for the year, only nine objections were received during the period from January 2 – 22. Of the nine, none were filed by any of the opposition parties.
Asked about failure to utilise this mechanism, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton said any use of the exercise will “help the PPP.”
As such, the Attorney General said “their claim is a fanciful one, one that is without merit and one that they cannot prove.”’
The next General and Regional Election is due later this year.
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