Chair of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Cathy Hughes said that the party’s engagement with diplomats from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) largely revolved around the need for a new voters’ list and electoral reforms before heading into another election.
The meeting, which took place at the Sophia headquarters of the People’s National Congress on Thursday, was a result of a request by Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton and included representatives of the AFC’s coalition partner, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch; UK High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller; Canadian Chargé d’Affaires, Caroline Mireault and the EU Chargé d’ Affaires, Evalina Melbardze, comprised the diplomatic delegation. While Hughes, AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan and AFC General Secretary Sherod Duncan represented the party.
During an interview with Sunday Stabroek yesterday, Hughes said that the meeting can be considered a success and that the diplomatic team proposed that such engagements occur on a regular basis.
“It certainly gave them an idea and additional information from our perspective, which is very, very important for them to be informed from all sides and of course, they were very supportive of keeping the channels of communication open. So they recommended that we should do this on a more regular basis. So I think that is testimony to how successful the meeting was,” she reported.
The APNU+AFC, since its defeat at the 2020 polls, has been contending that the voters’ list is padded with the names of dead and migrated persons. It has been consistently calling on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to cleanse the list or embark on house-to-house registration to ensure that all the concerns are addressed.
GECOM has in turn pointed out that it must act within the realm of the laws in relation to the purging of names on the National Register of Registrants.
In a statement on August 26, the elections commission said that it is constrained by the provisions of the National Registration Act, Chapter 19:08 which dictates the procedures for the registration of eligible persons and likewise the removal of any such persons from the National Register.
Nevertheless, Hughes said that the APNU+AFC team reminded the diplomats of the urgency of GECOM producing a new list. She said that they stressed the importance of embarking on a process of house-to-house registration adding that it was catered for in GECOM’s 2019 work plan and is long overdue. The diplomats were also reminded of what, the APNU+AFC claims, transpired during the March 2020 polls.
“One of the things that we have noted is GECOM’s announcement that local government elections will take place sometime early next year and this is where we have been very strong and strident on the need for a new list. You know the recount process after the 2020 election actually highlighted there were discrepancies.
“We spoke to them [diplomats] about the fact that we were able to scrutinize and to actually go and pay and get death certificates for persons that we knew were no longer alive and that we were able to highlight in the recount process that they were individuals that had passed away that were listed as having voted”, Hughes said.
The team was also told that APNU+AFC possesses information from the General Register Office and Chief Immigration Officer supporting its claims that votes were cast on behalf of dead persons and those out of the jurisdiction.
That narrative was presented during the five-month-long recount and was discredited by a number of persons who were on the APNU+AFC’s list as either being dead or out of the jurisdiction. Findings of international observer teams also did not support the claims by the opposition. However, the party continues to push that narrative in its effort to discredit the results of the elections.
Hughes said that the Opposition raised the issue of GECOM failing to review its internal processes as well as the government’s insistence on using a bloated list for elections.
“We feel strongly for the peace and stability of Guyana we have to do it right. And to do it right we raised a couple of observations that first of all that every single group or all the observer missions, that is the EU the OAS, and the CARICOM observer mission, all in the report highlighted the requirements and the need for a new list by the next election. And therefore, we consider that local government elections should meet the same kinds of standards and criteria that we expect of our national and regional election,” Hughes added.
She further stated that the issue of improved biometrics was raised with the team along with a number of other recommendations to strengthen the electoral processes and systems. However, the APNU+AFC team was questioned as to whether their demands can be addressed before the hosting of LGE.
LGE was due last year but GECOM was not in a position to hold those elections so it was postponed. GECOM is hoping to have LGE by late January 2023.
Hughes said that the APNU+AFC did not seek a commitment from the diplomatic team that the issues would be discussed with the government and other relevant authorities. However, she did say that the diplomats were provided with adequate information to support the APNU+AFC’s contentions.
