— Norton continues tirade on voters’ list

Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, continues his call for a “clean voters list” but without saying how this will be done without undermining the High Court’s ruling that the removal of the names of persons on the list of registrants on the basis of residency would be unconstitutional.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, he this time expressed his desire for re-registration of all voters in Guyana by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
“We remain steadfast in our call for GECOM to implement the necessary improvements, whether statutory, constitutional, technological, or administrative, to ensure elections of the highest standard. In this regard, we stand by our positions on the need for a clean voters list and biometric identification at polling places,” Norton said.

However, Norton’s desire for the re-registration of all voters does not take into account that names still cannot be removed from the existing National Register of Registrants (NRR) from which the Official List of Electors (OLE) is extracted.

While continuously calling for a “clean voters list”, Norton continues to side-stepped questions on what lawful process could be used to come to his version of a “clean voters list”, when names cannot be removed from the list except in the case of death.

The High Court, in August of 2019, had ruled that persons cannot be removed from the National Database of Registrants through house-to-house registration but through claims and objections and the provision of names of deceased persons by the General Registrar’s Office to GECOM.

NOT NEWS
The Coalition’s criticism of the list of electors is not new. It had repeatedly attacked the list after the successful passage of the December 2018 no-confidence vote in a bid to delay the elections as long as possible and had employed a similar strategy to derail the recount of votes of the 2020 elections that was supervised by CARICOM.

During the recount process, the Coalition made a number of claims, including that of dead and migrated persons voting. However, the CARICOM team, which the Coalition had described as the ‘most competent’ interlocutor, had roundly dismissed these claims as a “fishing expedition” and time-wasting exercise.

After five months of attempting to rig the 2020 regional and general elections, the Coalition was forced to vacate power due to mounting pressure from the international community and civil society to respect the will of the people.

GECOM Chairman, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, has already made clear that the elections body will not be acting in contradiction of the law as pertains to the voters list.
Meanwhile, GECOM is currently preparing to hold Local Government Elections (LGEs), which is likely before year end. The Commission is holding a claims and objection period whereby persons can highlight any concerns or discrepancies on the OLE for the purpose of addressing them.

The claims and objections period began on August 22, 2022 and will conclude on September 15, 2022.
Norton said the Opposition is participating in the exercise.

“Claims and objection period has started and we are participating because we need to stay on top and get the data to deal with the issues,” Norton said.

READY
Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, had affirmed that the government is ready to name a date for Local Government Elections once given the requisite notification from GECOM that the elections body is ready to move ahead with the holding of the elections.

With GECOM Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, noting that it is highly likely that LGEs would be held by the end of 2022, Dr. Jagdeo, who is also the General-Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), said that his party is already in election mode.

“We are ready whether elections are held this year or next year, we would be ready at any time. GECOM would have to write indicating when they are ready. But I speak for the PPP as the General-Secretary, and I’ve already convened a meeting. We’ve started working on our organisational structures around the country. We’ve put our party on a readiness mode,” he said at a press briefing last week.

A date for the LGEs is officially announced by the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development following official correspondence from GECOM on when it would be ready to carry out the elections.
The Vice-President also refuted claims by Norton that the government will not hold the elections.

“He [Norton] says PPP doesn’t want Local Government Elections, but we have already gone on an election footing,” Dr. Jagdeo said.
Dr. Jagdeo instead challenged the Opposition’s readiness for elections given ultimatums declared by Norton that his party is demanding before they participate in elections. Chief among Norton’s demand is the continuous call for changes to the voters’ list, in contravention of a ruling by the High Court.