‘Bloated’ voters list claim: “Come forward and show the public” – AG challenges Opposition

The Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have repeatedly claimed that the voters’ list is bloated with the names of deceased and migrated persons. However, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall on Tuesday evening again challenged the parties to prove that claim.
He pointed to the Claims and Objections period conducted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for such cases, noting that the Opposition failed to use that opportunity.

“The claims and objections mechanism provided a platform for them, not to prove the tens of thousands, to prove one. How about prove five or prove ten? [they] cannot prove one, and you expect any self-respecting organization or sensible person to take you seriously?” he challenged during his weekly programme of ‘Issues in the News.’
The Claims and Objections period is used by GECOM to facilitate the addition or removal of names from the Official voters list. Notably, names are only removed once a person is deceased, which must be proven with a death certificate in accordance with rulings of the court.
“Come forward and show the public that the voters list has bloat, or is bloated, or there are persons on that list who should not be on that list,” Nandlall said to the Opposition.
GECOM recently reported that during its first Claims and Objections exercise for the year, only nine objections were received during the period January 2 – 22. Of the nine, none was filed by any of the Opposition parties.
Asked about failure to utilise this mechanism, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton said any use of the exercise would “help the PPP.”
As such, the Attorney General has said, “Their claim is a fanciful one; one that is without merit, and one that they cannot prove.”
The next General and Regional Elections are set for later this year.