“Why expose elections process to mishaps?” – AG on Opposition call for biometrics

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, has said he believes calls for electronic voting are aimed at causing “mishaps” on election day.
Speaking during his weekly programme of ‘Issues in the News’, he noted that an electronic voting mechanism can be affected by varying issues, including common power outages that Guyana experiences.
“I am not opposed to any form of technology, but the manual system is working. Why you want to resort to technology, where things can go wrong in a country like Guyana? Where we can have a blackout (power outage) on elections day and it damages some programme that causes the finger printing machine to malfunction?” he asked rhetorically. “Why you want to expose us and our electoral practice to such mishaps?” he further questioned.
The Opposition political parties have been calling for electronic voting for the upcoming 2025 General and Regional Elections, but
Nandlall has said those parties are guaranteed to lose at the upcoming polls, and therein lies their reasons for making certain demands.
“They will lose the next elections, so they have already begun to find excuses and reasons why they will lose; so, they are speaking now about biometrics and finger printing,” he said.
Responding to comments about imposters voting for persons at the polls, he asked, “Are you telling me that if I turn up at the polling station with my ID, my name on the list, the folio that the GECOM staff has and all the polling agents have conforms with my ID that I am that person, if I go and put my finger on the machine and for whatever reason it malfunctions, you’re telling me that I will be denied my right to vote?”
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has, in the past, responded to claims of multiple voting and the need for biometrics. In a statement in August 2024, GECOM declared it is guided by laws, and the introduction of biometrics requires legislative changes. “Until such is enabled, GECOM cannot proceed with implementing such a feature,” that electoral body has said.
Further, it noted that the voters list is being sanitised through the claims and objections exercises and reports from health authorities and the Commissioner of Police relating to deceased persons.
“Insofar as the integrity of the electoral process is concerned, there are in existence multiple safeguards aimed at preventing multiple voting and other forms of skullduggery on Election Day,” GECOM has said.