WHEN election exercises closed in 2006 and the winner was announced, everything was peaceful and quiet because the process was considered free and fair. It was an incident-free election; one of the cleanest by international standards. Added to this, and a very important fact, was the main opposition leader conceding defeat. He could not have done otherwise because there were no grounds for him or his supporters to cry foul, so he had no other option but to do the noble thing and concede.
In the 2011 election, I am afraid this may not be the case judging from the fact that there is a confusing situation developing where voter eligibility is concerned. GECOM has elected to deny legitimate voters that is, persons with valid identification, the right to be registered hence, prohibiting them from voting. They have done this by sticking tenaciously to the “new found law” of no birth name no registration. It is interesting to note that the same individuals had turned up to be registered with an ID card issued to them by GECOM in previous registration exercises and identification which they have used in other elections also, are now told that they cannot register under that name. This new found mandate is GECOM’s latest recipe for disaster.
What we have here is a situation where hundreds of electors are locked out of the voting process. However, electors on becoming knowledgeable of the fact that they can vote with another form of identification such as a passport, rushed to get one.
Let me say I do not see this new found craze of voting with a passport as a grand idea of GECOM, because that has been the norm in other CARICOM territories once you are a citizen of that country you are automatically eligible for registration with a valid form of identification; even a driver’s licence can suffice. Incidentally, this is the way it is done here in St Lucia, a sister CARICOM state that will be conducting its elections on November 28 the same day we do ours in Guyana.
So GECOM’s archaic laws for registrants need an overhaul.  Now back to my discussion on voting in Guyana; evidence of a last-minute rush to secure a passport can be seen when huge bus loads of individuals kept turning up at the passport office in New Amsterdam to uplift their passports. Whether all of them will be successful is another matter But let me hasten to say there is a bigger problem which awaits them when they turn up to vote on Monday as their names would not be on the voters’ list, because technically they have not “registered” and when you are not “registered” you cannot vote. Secondly, what would become of those voters who could not afford the luxury of securing a passport and are only in possession of the sole form of ID they’ve ever owned in their lives? Dr Surujbally in a damage control move then issued a mumbo jumbo edict which further complicates the process that these individuals should turn up at the place of poll and pledge an oath of identity in order to vote. This poses an even greater danger when one’s constitutional right is left to the whims and fancies of a presiding officer or whoever. There can be bias on that presiding officer’s part or let’s countenance the fact that an opposing party official objects to that person voting; what will the situation be then?
All of this could have been avoided if GECOM did what it was entitled to do that is, get living, valid electors the opportunity to be registered and given the right to vote. Barring this, there will be trouble. Obstruction of one’s God given right to vote is not something political parties or the visiting observers would take lightly. It is one thing to know that you have lost the race in a political contest such as in a general election, but it is equally dangerous to learn that you have done so in a system that was far from fair. And this worries me greatly when I view Guyana’s situation. Make no mistake; the losing party would lay claim to all those disenfranchised voters. I think the only option left at this late hour is to let the people vote with a valid form of ID which MUST take into consideration the decommissioned 2009 ID cards; otherwise there is bound to be trouble with a capital T.