Dear Editor,
Guyana will be voting via the paper-balloting system come Election Day 2025. This is a foregone conclusion.
Paper-balloting is a system that has served us since the introduction of adult suffrage in this country, and there is no need to change it now. The PNC and its fringe elements are acting up the obstructionist role, trying desperately to stop or complicate an official process. Well, this writer is making an official announcement: they are not going to succeed with that deceptive political strategy; it simply will not happen. It is tantamount to fulfilment of the old proverb, “A bad workman quarrels with his tools.”
We have not encountered any problem with paper-balloting, other than a disgruntled party who seeks every available opportunity to compromise the process. Paper-balloting has served us well over the years, and there is no way we are going to change it into something we know nothing of. What we do know is that a complete change to biometrics at this late hour would only complicate a workable system already in place — something the PNC would revel in.
They did it in the 1997 Election, when they strongly agitated that voting should only be done with the use of an ID Card. When they lost that election, they were the first to mount a legal argument against the very same clause they instituted.
It shows clearly the duplicitous nature of that party.
So, we are not going to have a repeat of the 1997 fiasco in the upcoming election. We are not going to accommodate them with that foolishness again. Everything would be done by paper balloting above the board decently and in order.
The point is that, all across the Caribbean, paper-ballot is the premier form of voting. It has served the Caribbean well, and for us it will be no different. In Guyana’s case, use of paper ballots is even more authentic and conspicuous in that a photograph bearing the photograph of the voter is affixed to the folio that is checked when he or she turns up to vote. This is not done in other Caribbean jurisdictions, which tells you that Guyana’s voting method ranks among the best in the civilized world.
The fact is that Caribbean nations have conducted credible elections using the very same paper ballots without any problems whatsoever. However, what stands out between us and the rest of the Caribbean is that they do not have a malignant rigging Opposition like the PNC.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
