After two years of fending off allegations that it attempted to rig the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, the main Parliamentary Opposition, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) is now championing the need for so-called “breaches” in the registration process to be plugged.
The party, during a meeting with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday, expressed the view that the country’s election system requires substantial reforms and that GECOM should not engage in any new elections without these changes.
The Coalition further stated that those reforms must benefit from international best practices and are geared at producing credible results that will have public acceptance.
The team raised with the commission some of its concerns surrounding the current Continuous Registration Process. According to the Coalition, there was lack of public information on Continuous Registration; breaches in GECOM processes; and lack of consistency in the standard operating procedures at various offices.
The party said that birth certificates were being used with varying features, while GECOM did not seem to have any mechanism in place to confirm their authenticity.
It also claimed that there were breaches in the hiring process and in the process of issuing identification cards. These concerns were brought to GECOM’s attention, the party assured.
“Based on these and other concerns, the Coalition expressed a lack of confidence in the continuous registration process, but, however, pledged that its Scrutineers will continue to be present at the various offices to police the process with the aim of protecting the interest of all Guyanese,” the party noted, while adding that GECOM has committed to deliberate on the matters raised and to conduct thorough “investigations”.
It was further agreed that GECOM will share its findings and will meet with the Coalition more frequently to discuss these matters and the more substantive issue on the approach to electoral reform. Guyana Standard understands too that both parties will discuss how the next Local Government Elections can be used as a testing ground for these reforms with the aim of producing free and fair elections in all future elections.
The meeting was held via Zoom and was described as “cordial and fruitful”.
The Coalition team comprised PNCR Chairman, Shurwayne Holder; PNCR General Secretary, Geeta Chandan-Edmond; AFC General Secretary, David Patterson; and AFC Executive Member, Cathy Hughes.
Representing GECOM were Chairperson of GECOM, Ret. Justice Claudette Singh; CEO Vishnu Persaud; APNU+AFC Commissioners, Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman; PPP Commissioners, Bibi Shaddick, Manoj Narayan and Sase Gunraj.
