The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has written to the APNU+AFC requesting additional information to support its contention of voter impersonation at the March 2020 polls.
In a statement, GECOM said that the request for additional information comes after Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh had asked the relevant authorities to investigate the contention of voters’ impersonation.
On September 28, the GECOM Chair wrote to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the General Register Office (GRO) asking them to investigate the allegations of voter impersonation during the 2020 General and Regional Elections. The information was submitted by the APNU+AFC during the recount of votes following the March 2020 polls.
“Accordingly, the Commis-sion takes this opportunity to inform that its Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh has since written to the Chief Scrutineer of APNU+AFC, Ms Carol Smith-Joseph requesting that the APNU+AFC provide the necessary information so that the GPF can commence its investigation into the allegations of voters’ impersonation,” GECOM said in its statement yesterday.
The Commission also maintained that while it committed to ensuring that the concerns raised by the APNU+AFC are adequately addressed in a prioritized manner, it cannot release the personal information of those names submitted.
“…it is of crucial importance to note that, notwithstanding GECOM is the custodian of the National Register of Registrants Database (NRRDB) which contains personal information of all registrants, the Commission cannot release such information to the GPF owing to legal confidentiality issues that might arise,” it noted.
Yesterday, APNU+AFC’s Chief Scrutineer refused to state whether the party will be submitting the requested information to GECOM. Joseph-Smith, whose letter prompted GECOM to hand over the information to the authorities, told Stabroek News that she does not and will not engage the media to discuss her party’s business.
However, a senior source in the APNU+AFC told Stabroek News that GECOM is already in possession of all the information it needs to provide the authorities.
“The names and addresses and everything else is on the OLE [Official List of Electors] used in the 2020 elections so it is absolute nonsense that GECOM would now write and say that it needs addresses. GECOM is clearly not interested in what happened at the elections and this is their ploy to stall exposing all that happened.
“This all comes when they refused to have an internal investigation into the elections and pretending like they cannot do anything. GECOM has the power to do its investigation and improve the systems and that is all we are asking for and it is what our Commissioners have been proposing all the time,” the source stated.
GECOM has consistently said that it cannot investigate any allegations of electoral fraud. In a previous statement, it reminded that Article 163 (1) b (i) of the Constitution of Guyana stipulates that “subject to the provisions of this article, the High Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine any question whether – either generally or in any particular place, an election has been lawfully conducted or the result thereof has been or might have been, affected by any unlawful act or omission.”
It added that launching an internal investigation would mean that it would be encroaching on the powers of the Elections Court.
On September 20, Joseph-Smith wrote to GECOM that its submissions be forwarded to the GPF and the General Register Office for verification all of the information. She also requested that GECOM publicly and promptly releases the first set of verified reports already in its possession.
“[We request that GECOM] restarts the internal probe into the matter, which it aborted in 2020, and publicly release its own findings; it addresses the implications of its findings of that probe, and it publicly communicates the corrective actions it proposes and intends to take to prevent any attempts of voter impersonation in future elections,” the letter requested.
Additionally, Joseph-Smith reminded that GECOM has a constitutional function of conducting elections that reflect the true will of the Guyanese electorate as well as building public confidence in elections and the Commission itself.
