Jagdeo calls on Top Cop to withdraw flawed list of migrant voters

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday called on the Commissioner of Police Leslie James to withdraw a list of voters that he purports were out of the country on polling day due to inaccuracies that have been uncovered.

According to Jagdeo, over a four-day period PPP/C agents have been able to locate 35 of the 172 persons identified by James in a submission to Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM) Chair-person Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh.

The information was submitted at the request of Singh, who in a letter to the James, dated May 22nd, 2020, stated, “The APNU/AFC is alleging that persons whose names and dates of birth appear on the list attached had migrated and could not have exercised their franchise on March 2, 2020.”

She went on to request that the Commissioner “cause the Immigration Department to verify whether these persons were out of the country on March 2, 2020. The respective polling divisions and stations where these persons allegedly voted are also identified on the list.”

The Police Commissioner responded to Singh on May 27th and furnished her with a list of 172 persons, their dates of birth, and travel records.

These records in each case state that the individuals did not return on or before the March 2 elections.

However, several of these persons have come forward to declare that they were in Guyana and voted on their own behalf.

Jagdeo also went on to claim that of the 310 names submitted by the coalition in a second list to Singh, his party has located 175 persons.

“So we have found 210 of the 482 they claim were not in the country… That’s 43.5%. We have found nearly half,” Jagdeo stress-ed, before adding that James must now withdraw this flawed list.

“In the face of this exposé, the Commissioner must now consider withdrawing that letter because in just a small sample, in a few days we managed to find [a significant number],” he noted.