Dear Editor,
Given the assertions in the APNU/AFC electoral petition, whether true or false, Guyana has to completely change the way we conduct our elections. Every safeguard and mechanism used in the March 2020 poll has been discredited by APNU/AFC leadership, and it is difficult to envision credible elections soon, given the clouds of doubt created in the minds of APNU/AFC supporters about the sanctity of the process.
This perception therefore necessitates changes, including the introduction of new processes and safeguards to the way we conduct polls in the national interest.
The sight of former President Granger waiting for hours in blazing sunshine outside the Georgetown Magistrates Courts to give Mr Mingo ‘high-fives’ after the GECOM returning Officer was placed on bail for four counts of electoral fraud is the surest sign that the Guyana Elections Commission Secretariat is compromised, and must be reformed as a matter of urgency.
It has been noted that the top eighty-five members of the Secretariat are of one ethnicity, and despite the majority being persons of great and unimpeachable integrity, a few rotten apples threaten to spoil the barrel. The pronouncement made by GECOM’s PRO on the 27th December 2018, indicating readiness to conduct polls within the prescribed 90-day timeframe following a successful no-confidence motion (as dictated by the Constitution), and the subsequent reversal of that position demonstrate clear political direction and interference in the work of the Secretariat.
There can be no contemplation of another election (local, regional or national) before a thorough review and reform of the GECOM Secretariat is undertaken.
APNU/AFC created massive doubts about the National Register of Registrants (NRR) in the effort to delay the constitutionally mandated elections. The system is that of continuous registration, wherein persons can/should register at any time after reaching the age of 14, and names are removed by GECOM after notification of death by the General Registrar’s Office.
During the lead-up to the March 2020 polls, the National Register of Registrants Database (NRRDB) had some 663,365 names, from which 646,625 were extracted to create the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE). The PLE went through further alterations, which saw the removal of names of 6,094 deceased persons. There were 68 objections; 16,642 names added from the house-to-house registration exercise; 4,258 claims; and 368 duplicate names removed. After this exhaustive process, the names of a few deceased persons were still on the Official List of Voters (OLV) which was used on polling day. The laws of Guyana do not prevent Guyanese residing overseas from returning to vote, nor do they allow for the removal of migrants from the NRR; there will be ‘bloat’ on the list, but can votes be cast for those persons? We return to the safeguards.
On polling day, Guyanese and other eligible voters have 12 hours in which to cast their votes. To do so, they ‘walk a gauntlet’ manned by GECOM trained polling day staff, political party agents, a Police officer, delegates of local and international observer missions, and members of the diplomatic corps. Persons are asked to identify themselves and show National Identification Cards where possible, or swear to an affidavit of identity if not in possession of ID Cards. ALL persons are subjected to confirmation of identity by GECOM staff and party agents, who use a folio that contains detailed information, including photograph and family details.
After confirmation of identity, a ballot is issued with clear instruction on voting procedures. Voting is done in the privacy of a booth, and ballots are placed in a box as the voter’s index (or other) finger is simultaneously dipped in semi-permanent electoral ink.
These safeguards have all been rubbished by the APNU/AFC leadership, and will have to be strengthened/ revamped to quell the notion that our electoral system is compromised at this level.
I have seen no evidence of fraud in the polling stations, but I have seen enough evidence of malpractice and attempted electoral fraud at the higher levels of GECOM. Statements of Poll (SOP) being replaced by spreadsheets; Deputy Returning Officers issuing illegal or irregular orders to Presiding Officers; the flash-drive fiasco; the actions of Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, who now has to explain to the criminal courts how he endorsed Mingo’s fabrications, given that he (Lowenfield) has all of the original SOPs.
Granger’s APNU+AFC have filed an election petition, and are ultimately asking for vitiation of the March polls and an order that fresh polls be held within 90 days. Irony aside, how can any rational person believe this would be a viable solution to the problems experienced from December 2018 to August 2nd?
How can one be a complainant of electoral fraud in the High Court (Granger) and be championing the cause of the fraudster (Mingo) in the street outside the Magistrates Courts? Mr Granger said, “Mingo is not a child, Mingo has rights”. I must inform the elderly former President that children do have rights, and so do the people of Guyana. Foremost is our right to democracy and the Government of our choice. That we have to expend time, energy and vast sums of money to rebuild confidence in our electoral mechanism and GECOM (the agency tasked with conducting elections) is all the fault of David Granger, who precipitated the decline in the integrity of GECOM with the unilateral appointment of James Patterson; and who, given his support of Mingo, is now suspect in the compromising of senior members of the Secretariat.
Editor, I believe criminal investigation into the workings and actions of the GECOM Secretariat must be vigorously pursued, and that there must be set up a National Committee tasked with comprehensively reviewing the workings of GECOM and all electoral processes with the aim of reforming and modernising the organisation. Then, and only then, can we contemplate a return to the polls.
In the meanwhile, APNU+AFC needs to find credible leadership to bring them into the democratic fold. An elections petition filed without SOPs offered as evidence speaks volumes. Fraud is fraud! The Granger/ Harmon hegemony is over.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh
