Referencing the number of interventions made to cleanse the elections machinery of all elements of skullduggery, General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has expressed his party’s confidence in the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to deliver credible elections next year.
“We believe that the system is a robust one with the international observers, all the political parties observing the process, being in the polling places there and ensuring votes are counted transparently, ensuring that people who are not on the list, don’t vote… All of that could be done as it was done in the past,” the PPP General Secretary said in response to questions posed during the party’s weekly press conference on Thursday.
According to Jagdeo, the 2020 election fiasco that led to a five-month political deadlock was not caused by the election machinery but by individuals who tried to subvert aspects of the electoral process.
“In nine regions [the votes] were accurately tabulated and announced by the ROs (Returning Officers). In Region Four, [embattled RO Clairmont] Mingo colluding with the [then Chief Elections Officer Keith] Lowenfield and the others decided to use a spreadsheet, not the Statement of Poll… They tried to steal the elections here, it’s a few individuals.”
“We stopped it, we went to the court. The international community worked, local organisations, everyone – the newspapers, we all exposed the plot. We had the recount done and the recount showed that the PPP won the elections. They even tried to distort the recount and at the end of the day, the system worked,” he posited.
The PPP General Secretary, who also serves as the country’s Vice President, further noted that in addition to identifying and fixing the fraud during the 2020 elections, the perpetrators were also identified and are now before the courts, facing electoral fraud charges.
Those charged are former Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo; former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; his former Deputy, Roxanne Myers and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller, and Denise Babb-Cummings. Also, before the court are current APNU Member of Parliament Volda Lawrence and PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph
“So, the system is working,” Jagdeo stressed, while further pointing to the steps taken by the PPP/C government to strengthen the electoral process to prevent a recurrence of the 2020 events.
“With the new law that was passed, it’s even worse [to attempt anything] because we’ve put in some serious penalties now and there is no room for capricious action on the part of the CEO. He could go to jail…,” he reminded.
Jagdeo’s comments during Thursday’s press conference come on the heels of recent concerns raised by the minority parliamentary opposition, the Alliance For Change (AFC), regarding election safeguards.
The PPP General Secretary, however, dismissed these concerns, stating that the “AFC and the others are raising red herrings because this is their only way of justifying what we know the outcome would be in the future. They’re gonna lose the [2025] elections and they know that too. Internally, they’ve been discussing this.”
Recently, the AFC, which was previously part of the PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Coalition that had attempted to rig the 2020 election, has joined calls for biometrics such as fingerprints to be implemented by GECOM for next year’s polls.
But in a statement on Wednesday, GECOM explained that they cannot make such a significant change to electoral procedure unless there is legislation to back it up.
“Whereas this call from the AFC is nothing new, the Commission must remind all political stakeholders and by extension the general public that (GECOM Chairperson) Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Claudette Singh has repeatedly emphasised that the Commission’s operations are guided by the laws of Guyana,” GECOM explained.
“It is of paramount importance to recall that, in so doing the GECOM Chairman has emphasised that GECOM cannot and will not act outside of the extant statutory provisions pertaining to the conduct of National Registration, Local Government Elections, and General and Regional Elections. More specifically, it must be emphasised that the introduction of biometrics requires legislative changes and, until such is enabled, GECOM cannot proceed with implementing such a feature.”
Nevertheless, the electoral body did ensure that there are multiple safeguards, as enshrined in the law, already in place to protect the sanctity of the elections.
However, GECOM also indicated that it is already examining the question of biometrics.
It was revealed that a feasibility study was conducted on introducing fingerprint scanning, a form of biometrics. That study, according to GECOM, is currently being examined by the commissioners.
“Over an extended period of time, the chairman facilitated discussions on a Motion that was moved by one Member of the Commission proposing the introduction of digital fingerprint capture during registration, and the introduction of biometric fingerprint identification of voters at polling stations.”
“Discussions on the Motion, by the Commission, led to a decision being taken for a Feasibility Study to be conducted into the viability of introducing digital fingerprint capture and the use of biometrics in line with the Motion. The Feasibility Study has since been completed and copies have been circulated to all members of the Commission for perusal and subsequent deliberations,” the statement detailed.
Additionally, a proposal is being considered by GECOM, from Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, for cameras to be placed in polling stations. These cameras, GECOM noted, would be placed in positions where they could record what happened in the polling stations while maintaining the secrecy of the ballots.
Until these proposals can be implemented, however, GECOM reminded of the safeguards at their disposal, including political party agents at each polling station and the identification process for voters. There is also the use of indelible ink, the counting of ballots before reps from all the parties and local and international observers.
There were also concerns raised about the integrity of the Official List of Electors (OLE) but GECOM assured, however, that the voters’ lists are sanitised and updated through Claims and Objections Exercises. Additionally, in accordance with the National Registration Act, the CEO has been writing to the Chief Medical Officer and the Commissioner of Police, for periodic updates on deceased persons. This allows GECOM to further sanitise and keep the register of voters updated, in a legal way.
