– Nandlall challenges Opposition’s claim of GECOM registering Venezuelans, calls for ‘concrete’ evidence to be produced

ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, has challenged opposition leaders to provide concrete evidence supporting their claims that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is unlawfully registering Venezuelan migrants for the upcoming general and regional elections.

Nandlall’s statements come in response to allegations made by the Leader of the Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Aubrey Norton, and Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, who have accused the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) of registering Venezuelan refugees as electors.

During his programme, ‘Issues in the News,’ Nandlall addressed the allegations made by Norton and Ramjattan, which he described as “vacuous, outlandish, and outrageous.”

“Both of them have made the allegation that GECOM is illegally registering Venezuelans and putting them on the national database… They are both alleging that this will undermine the integrity of the electoral process. Not single supporting evidence, not a scintilla of evidence to corroborate or support this very serious allegation,” Nandlall said.

The claims made by the opposition leaders centre around their concerns that GECOM’s actions may compromise the integrity of the upcoming elections. They argued that the alleged unlawful registration of Venezuelan migrants could lead to an imbalance in the electoral process.

Nandlall was quick to clarify the government’s stance on the matter, emphasising that neither the government nor the PPP exercises control over GECOM. He highlighted the constitutional autonomy of GECOM, which operates independently to fulfil its statutory and constitutional mandate.

“The Guyana Elections Commission is a constitutional autonomous and independent body,” Nandlall stated. He went on to emphasise that the events following the March 2020 elections demonstrated that the PPP/C did not have control or influence over GECOM’s actions.

Nandlall cited the alleged controversial actions of key figures like Clairmont Mingo and Keith Lowenfield, who were widely criticised for their handling of the 2020 elections, as evidence that the government could not control GECOM. Two key opposition officials were fingered in the electoral fraud case which is currently before the court.

Nandlall pointed to the lack of concrete evidence to support the allegations against GECOM.

“I have no evidence that GECOM is registering unqualified persons…the allegation that Ramjattan and Norton are making is that GECOM is unlawfully registering Venezuelans, who are not qualified to be registered, obviously. These two leaders sat at a news conference and alleged that hundreds if not thousands of Venezuelans are being illegally registered by GECOM and they did not produce a scintilla of evidence to substantiate this very serious and outrageous allegation,” he said.

He outlined the constitutional qualifications for voter registration, which include being 18 years and older and being a Guyanese citizen.

BASELESS CLAIM

According to the Attorney General, the opposition’s claims that GECOM was unlawfully registering unqualified persons were baseless, as no evidence had been presented to substantiate these allegations.

He questioned the reasoning behind the opposition’s insinuation that these allegedly unlawful registrants would vote in favour of the PPP/C.

“I don’t know that they are even supporters of the People’s Progressive Party. The other bizarre thing is how do you know and on what basis they are concluding that these persons who are being unlawfully registered are supporters of the PPP or will vote for the PPP. On what basis are they arriving at that conclusion?” Nandlall asked.

He challenged the opposition leaders’ ability to predict the voting preferences of individuals without any factual basis. He continued to express his doubts about the veracity of the claims, noting that the opposition’s propensity for making unsupported allegations was a recurring pattern.

He pointed out that GECOM is an independent organisation responsible for its actions and that, even if the allegations were accurate, GECOM’s makeup did not inherently favour the PPP/C.

“If you have to question the reasoning capabilities of these persons when they can make such vacuous, outlandish and outrageous allegations and suppositions and draw inferences that are so remote without offering a scintilla of evidence to support it. But that is how they think. And that is how they function both in and out of government. They simply do not make sense,” Nandlall said.

GECOM MUST SPEAK UP

In response to the opposition’s allegations, Nandlall called on GECOM to address the accusations and requested that they call upon Norton and Ramjattan to produce the evidence for their claims.

He also suggested that GECOM release a statement to clarify its position and actions. However, he expressed scepticism that the opposition leaders would provide any evidence to support their claims.

Nandlall reaffirmed that GECOM’s independent status was beyond the control of the government and that the opposition’s allegations were unsubstantiated.

He criticised the opposition leaders for making baseless and unfounded allegations and urged them to provide concrete evidence if they wished to substantiate their claims.

“But even if GECOM issues a statement calling upon them to produce the evidence they will not. Life goes and they get off the hook completely until they concoct and fabricate another lie. Another false narrative.

That is all that they do, all day long. So don’t be surprised when they are confronted. You will hear no sensible answer. No sensible response. And then they go on to fabricate and concoct another ridiculous narrative. That is what they do all day,” he said.

Currently, the high-profile electoral fraud case involving several prominent figures, including former District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, former Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield; former People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNC/R activist Carol Smith-Joseph, and several GECOM officials are before the court.

The defendants are charged in connection with inflating or facilitating the inflation of results for Region Four, the country’s largest voting district, to give the APNU+AFC Coalition a majority win at the polls when, in fact, the PPP/C had won by 15,000 votes.

The APNU has openly supported the defendants.

COLLUSION

In April 2023, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections found that there was collusion and collaboration between senior GECOM officials to divert votes to the APNU +AFC, instead of safeguarding and preserving the integrity of the electoral system.

Chairman Stanley John and commissioners — former Chancellor Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith made these findings on the basis of evidence from the many witnesses who had testified, along with the reports of the international observers.

The report found that Lowenfield blatantly made decisions and employed procedures in direct contradiction to the law and the will of the people. The findings revealed too that GECOM staffers ignored specific instructions from the court, used materials that were illegal and or manipulated, and sided with APNU+AFC agents to berate observers whenever objections were raised.