Threatening behaviour for a voters’ list

RECENTLY, the main opposition party, A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change Coalition (APNU+AFC) has launched a scorching attack on the Voters’ List which will be utilised for the possible elections this year.

Additionally, the Coalition seems to be pushing the narrative that the only way Guyana can have elections that are free from fear, credible, and free is through house-to-house registration.
The party has been skillfully using propaganda as it resurrects allegations of votes being cast by the dead and migrants to evoke the public’s concern about having future elections with the same list.

Also, the APNU+AFC C0alition is seeking to suggest that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic is involved with the 49 ballot boxes, for which, the statutory documents are still missing. It is pressing those responsible to cause a whole investigation into the missing documents and other allegations of the 2020 election.

The Opposition party has been increasing its threats against Claudette Singh who is the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission. It said that it will “pressure” Singh into resigning her post or she will “face unspecified action”.

All the while, the Coalition has been utilising the Court System by bringing two elections petitions and several other constitutional, statutory, and public cases against the Government.
Apart from this renewed political activism, the PNC-led Coalition has been pushing the false claim to its base that the PPP/C Government is allegedly discriminating against citizens based on their political, socioeconomic, and racial backgrounds.

The truth is, nothing that Aubrey Norton and the entire block of Coalition parties are doing seems to stick or have the desired effect. They have adopted the same style of being, looking, and sounding like the big political bully.

Interestingly, this current crop of political minds in the Opposition do not appear to sound their voice within the ambit of the Coalition or party about the worrying path that Norton seems to be threading.
Firstly, the public, seemingly, will not pay keen attention to Norton. He is saying the same thing at every forum and is going around in a circle.

It is clear now to all and sundry that Norton does not have a plan of action as to how he will counter the PPP-elections machinery which appears well-oiled at all times.
So, the opposition is forced to go back to doing what they know best – opposing and raising the same issues surrounding the elections voters’ list.

GECOM knows how to sanitise the list and make sure it is free from all skullduggery. It is not smart to unduly and unjustly critique GECOM at this time when the APNU+AFC is still allegedly guilty of internally subverting and undermining GECOM at the 2020 elections.

Even with a fresh list, one could still see 100 ways through which the Coalition can lose the elections.
Secondly, the Coalition is clutching at straws with the case of 49 ballot boxes and the missing statutory documents. GECOM can find the answers if they wanted to dispel this rumour about the missing documents. GECOM could go to Colidgen and check its records. The APNU+AFC knows it is not PPP but wants to trap the party in the controversy so that they can make the case for a new list and continue to blindly say that they were cheated.

Thirdly, the issue of just how the voter and immigration information ended up in the hands of a political party without following the necessary channel of approval, and consent is worrying as it is serious.
The PPP/C Government is flagged for this one. Where is the investigation, since 2020 it had occurred? This is the only way to find out if the Coalition accessed the citizens’ private records without their permission using the public servants to delay Guyana’s election results.

Lastly, the APNU+AFC must not be trusted to behave diplomatically or reasonably when it comes to the safety and protection of Singh. Norton seems to know what they are planning to do if she does not budge and continues to act with independence, impartiality, and integrity. The Security Forces should be on high alert because of the kind of political struggle Norton is seemingly egging on from the comfort of the podium.

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