The arduous task of championing the struggle for free and fair elections has been left to the PPP/C

Dear Editor,

The view that ‘A bad list is better than no list’ must be rejected vigorously by all contesting political parties. This is an extremely dangerous position by some in our midst who, for their own selfish economic and political interests want to get elections out of the way, even if it means contesting with a bogus list or postponing the elections in order to fix it.

Those who promote this narrative, are not in the contest to win nor to lose, on the contrary, it seems as though they have opted for the role either of fence-sitters or like the chameleon, assume a camouflage when perhaps, they may very well be a front in a larger political gambit for a benefactor clothed in green.

That aside, the peripheral parties and one-time vocal NGOs have either gone silent or have backed-off from the fight for free and fair elections. They appear to be hell-bent on marketing themselves and to be continually engaged in horse trading or massaging each other’s egos while at the same time, jockeying for positions.

A tour d’horizon would show only one player shaking the mango tree for the fruit to fall, and when they do, the shysters are to be found sitting blissfully beneath the tree, waiting as it were, to benefit from other people’s labour.
This rather selfish behaviour is no longer a pattern, it is a definitive and deliberate posture that is as clear as night follows day. The arduous task of championing the struggle for free and fair elections has been left to the PPP/C.

Consider this; A New and United Guyana (ANUG) focuses exclusively on constitutional reform, the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) focuses solely on Amerindian affairs, Change Guyana (CG)’s principal platform is big business, while the Citizen Initiative (CI) focuses solely on Youth. All four appear to be deeply engrossed in tunnel visions of their own making.
Then there is what could be called the ‘remainder’, whose messages, if there are any at all, make no sense to whatsoever. Their survival depends on who they are prepared to go to bed with.

It is interesting to note, that in the midst of an elections whirlwind, when so many key issues to hold free and fair elections, such as the voters’ list, proxy votes, rejected votes, location of polling stations and procedure for recounts are yet to be consensually settled, none of the ‘peripheral’ or ‘remainder’ political parties have evinced a squeak over these key issues.

In the meantime, the Presidential candidate of APNU+AFC and the state-owned Guyana Chronicle are constantly harping on how critical a voters’ list is for the holding of democratic elections, and the need for such elections to be free from fear.
The caretaker president keeps talking about his commitment for the holding of free and fair elections, as if he is in competition with the PPP/C, and to convince the international community about his democratic credentials.

But the caretaker President’s anti-constitutional antics in the aftermath of the NCM, and notwithstanding his transitory status as president of a caretaker Government, has left many deeply suspicious of his coalition’s predisposition to accept the results of a free and fair elections that could leave his coalition badly wounded.

That aside, it is now crystal clear that the heavy lifting to ensure the holding of free and fair elections has been left to the PPP/C, as if it is the PPP/C alone, and not the whole of Guyana that will benefit from the holding of democratic elections.
It is not too early to raise these matters.

Take for example the key and critical question of the voters’ list.
An accurate voters’ list can be achieved, but only when GECOM’s operatives responsible for its compilation, exercise care, caution and professionalism in the execution of their duties and, most importantly, when the list is deemed acceptable by the political parties.
Any list that cannot withstand the scrutiny of the political parties is a bad list and should be scrapped.

Regardless of whether the current updating of the Preliminary voters’ list is being done because of transfers or to incorporate the new verified 10,329 registrants or those unverified 6,544 (not found) persons, the point is that updating of records require verification to prevent the creation of a corrupted list contaminated with numbers tilted in favour of the ruling coalition.
Changes in data that are not verifiable are a recipe for chaos, confusion and possibly, confrontations on elections day.

Any secretive updating of the preliminary voters’ lists by the shadowy Secretariat without the concurrence of the Commission and, ultimately, without the updated results being scrutinized by the political parties, is tantamount to throwing a spanner in the works.
Such questionable updating can result in allowing non-eligible persons to vote, unlawfully disqualifying eligible voters, facilitating duplicated names on the voters’ list, and/or illegally annulling votes.

Further, experience in the past points to situations where the number of rejected votes was as high as 8,000. This was because there was no consistency with respect to the interpretation of the law regarding marking of ballots where the intention of the voter was concerned. Such a huge amount of votes would have invalidated votes legitimately cast by voters.

Moreover, there was the case in the past, where on Disciplined Forces’ polling day, ranks who had their ID cards but whose names were not on the list, were turned away without being allowed to vote.
Later, GECOM announced that the names of such persons should be entered on the register at the polling station and be allowed to vote.

These experiences among others, point to the rejection of any notion that ‘a bad list is better than no list’ voiced in some circles.
These self-appointed ‘elections experts’ are of the view that the alternative to their “bad list is better than no list” narrative, is postponement of elections to correct the bad list, a position reminiscent of the 1990-1992 experience.
Unfamiliarity by some Presiding Officers in the past, with the process for proxy voting has, in some instances, resulted in the misuse, in some cases, abuse as well as tampering or misrepresentation of proxy voting.

In pressing ahead for free and fair elections, proxy voting should not be viewed as a matter to be ‘taken for granted.’
Location of polling stations has proven to be another contentious issue.
Voters were deliberately provided incorrect information, inducing them to appear at the wrong polling station.
Polling stations were deliberately opened late, closed before six, or kept open to allow for illegal voting by persons who were bused from one polling station to another.

In addition, some polling stations were deliberately located at places that are inaccessible to electors, or at homes of known party activists. Also, there have been cases where polling station locations were changed just before Election Day without notifying the relevant voters.
We have the experience of 2015, with respect to a request for a vote recount when, in a meeting with the full Commission with former GECOM Chairman Surujbally, former President Donald Ramotar requested the recount of ballots cast in 22 boxes. The request was made due to differences in the Statements of Poll that had surfaced.

Ramotar later suggested that in the interest of not holding up the announcement of the election results, the chairman should order the recount of just five boxes. Surujbally agreed to recount ballots in 22 boxes as earlier requested, but that was never done.
There is countrywide suspicion that mischief is afoot, inspired by the thirst and hunger on the part of the APNU+AFC cabal to remain in office. But there is an even greater hunger and thirst on the part of the people for PPP/C to return to office. In this regard, it is the political underdog that always has the psychological and moral advantage, even in an elections.

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee