“DANGEROUS” paths are being approached – a one-line summation from former president Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, following Brigadier (ret’d) David Granger’s characterisation of the Revised List of Electors as a “dirty” list.“If we allow this to thrive, these are dangerous grounds and my fear is that the only reason it is raised now is that this is a preemptive strike…this is very dangerous,” he stressed on Saturday at a news conference held at Freedom House.

The presidential candidate of the Alliance of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) made the comment at a fund-raising event in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York, last week.
He said, “That is a dirty list…the list has suddenly gone up by a hundred thousand to 567,000. Keep your eyes open. We do not believe in that. How in three years in a country in which the population is falling, the voters list has gone up by a hundred thousand?”
QUESTIONABLE TIMING
Dr Jagdeo questioned Granger’s timing, explaining that he had many opportunities to raise concerns, including the series of continuous registration cycles and the Claims and Objections periods, as well as through the APNU-represented officials who are commissioners with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
“Clearly every right thinking Guyanese is wondering what is wrong with Granger…why is he doing it now at this stage? There must be an ulterior motive,” he said.
According to the former president, Granger is seemingly laying the foundation to explain an APNU+AFC loss at the upcoming May 11 General and Regional elections.
“My feeling is that his motive is fear; fear of losing and trying, as we know PNC has done in the past, trying to make excuses for that failure. I cannot think of any other rational reason why he did not raise this issue over the past three years,” Dr Jagdeo said.
He recalled that when the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) made use of the opportunities to question aspects of the electors list, its leadership was criticised for wanting to delay the electoral process.
“GECOM defended the list then and I hope GECOM will defend the list as vigorously as when we raised concerns,” he said.
DANGEROUS MINDSET
Dr Jagdeo also questioned Granger’s mindset relating to the changes in the electoral list.
“What is even more dangerous is Granger’s mindset. He said when we win the elections we will sit down, the AFC and APNU, and decide what to do about the list. That is how it was in the past; the Government decided what to do about the list. That is no longer the case. GECOM, an independent organisation, they decide on the list,” he stressed.
The former president underscored the creativity of the People’s National Congress (PNC) in rigging elections and having their Ministry of Home Affairs prepare an Official List of Electors (OLE).
“The PNC at that time was very creative…they had a fake name, Harry Potter, on the list. This was in the 60’s. Maybe Rowling (the author J.K Rowling) must have been thinking about the PNC’s creativity,” he quipped.
On a more serious note, Dr Jagdeo made it clear that Granger seems divorced from reality.
“He is very far from reality…this is serious business,” the former president stressed.
GECOM’S POSITION
Additionally, GECOM’s Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally, in a prior comment, expressed concern over the types of words used to describe the list.
“They should not be using words like padded or bloated, because the connotation is that we are not purposely increasing the list. We are working on reducing the number of people on the list, but taking people off the list is not easy,” he said.
Dr. Surujbally acknowledged that the names of persons who have migrated from Guyana, as well as persons who have died, are still included on the list.
“We would be first to say the list has people dead or people not in Guyana and this is something that Mr. Granger is aware of,” he said.
However, the GECOM Chairman pointed out that there is a legal procedure to removing the names of dead persons on the list and stressed that GECOM cannot unilaterally undertake this task.
On the issue of persons who have left Guyana, Dr. Surujbally explained that if their names are on the list then it means these persons registered, their residency was verified and the relevant procedures were followed to have them placed on the voters’ list.
“We do not know how many people registered and, having their residency, subsequently left the country. You cannot take them off the list. Suppose you take the name off and the individual comes home and the situation that arises is that they are not eligible to vote. What happens then?” he questioned.
According to him, these explanations have been made to Mr. Granger, as well as other stakeholders in the electoral process.
“They all know the reasons for the increased number of the list….this is not something unique to Guyana. This is a global phenomenon,” he said.
The GECOM Chairman was emphatic in making clear that all the challenges considered, all stakeholders are well aware of the measures in place to ensure that no person votes twice or votes in the place of another person.
“The important thing with these numbers is that there cannot be one person voting twice,” he posited.
He declined to comment on Mr. Granger’s reason for raising this concern abroad, as opposed to voicing them locally, and more importantly communicating these concerns to GECOM.
Numbers from the GECOM indicated that the RLE includes the names of 570,786 eligible voters. The number of eligible voters in the November 2011 General and Regional Elections was 492,193.

By Vanessa Narine