A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition members who are encouraging Guyanese to congregate at polling stations after voting should be arrested as they are encouraging the breaking of the law, according to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.
At a press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo, who is the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), said that he hopes the Commissioner of Police takes note of statements made as he believes that they are urging persons to break the law. He did not say whether he, or any member of his party, has reported any of these statements to the police.
Several coalition members, during rallies, have called on supporters to remain at polling stations to safeguard ballot boxes. These persons include Minister of Public Health and Chair of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Volda Lawrence.
On 20th January, Stabroek News reported that Lawrence, during a rally at the Kitty market square, called on supporters to guard against any interference during the counting of ballots at polling stations.
This statement has been criticised as dangerous and irresponsible including by Jagdeo, and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, especially considering the violence which has followed, or accompanied previous elections in Guyana.
Jagdeo characterised Lawrence’s statements as a call to violence, and said that he has written to the international community to complain about the “dangerous precedent.”
Jagdeo also noted that Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield has said that he will remind parties that certain acts done within 200 yards of polling stations which are deemed to be intended to annoy, molest, or interfere with the election is an offence.
Elections petition
Meanwhile, Jagdeo dismissed claims by government-nominated GECOM commissioner Vincent Alexander that the National Register of Registrants (NRR) is bloated and that this will result in a bloated Official List of Electors (OLE).
On Tuesday, Alexander told reporters that a population of 750,000 persons cannot produce a list of 661,000 eligible voters. The coalition government has maintained this position since early last year. In fact, it was on this basis that a decision for a house-to-house registration exercise was made.
Jagdeo, however, said that no less a person than Lowenfield has dismissed the coalition government’s claim. He suggested, as he has done before, that the complaints by the coalition government are aimed at laying a foundation for an elections petition if the coalition fails to win the elections.
GECOM over the weekend published the OLE for the March 2nd, 2020 general and regional elections. It contains 661,028 names.
Analysts say that the size of the list reflects what occurs in a continuous registration system where there is high migration and unrecorded deaths.
