The Alliance For Change (AFC) has announced that it is exploring a number of avenues in its push for a clean voters’ list’ ahead of the 2025 General and Regional Elections.
The party is looking mount international pressure on the government and possible legislative changes to the country’s electoral laws to ensure a clean voters list.
In an address to US-based Guyanese at a Town Hall Meeting over the weekend in Queens, New York, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes, said the issue of a bloated voters list is no secret, having been flagged by a number of international observers during the course of the highly controversial 2020 Elections.
As of March of this year, the voters’ list had more than 700,000 names, almost the size of the country’s population. With not enough seats in the National Assembly to effect legislative changes without the support of the Government, Hughes said the AFC is in talks with the Diplomatic Community including the US and the United Kingdom (UK), with the hope of pressuring Government into supporting the necessary legislative changes that would see the cleansing of the list.
“The bottom line is, the only influence on the party that has the one seat majority in parliament that would cause them to respond and it is sad to admit this, is international pressure. So, we have been engaging all the friends of Guyana to say to them, this list would create more problems,” the AFC Leader said.
In its Election Report on the 2020 General and Regional Elections in Guyana, the Carter Centre while noting that the voter register has been a regular source of controversy in Guyana, took note of the fact that 660,988 persons were registered as voters for the 2020 Elections – an increase of 15.5% from the 2015 election.
It said the number of registered voters seemed to be “disproportionate” to the country’s estimated population, and therefore recommended that “before the next election, the government reassess and overhaul both the process and the technology used to create and manage the voter registration database.”
However, while the National Assembly in December 2022 amended a number of the country’s election laws, the voters’ list remains an issue of contention, with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) stating repeatedly, that it could only comply with the existing laws.
As such, among the other options being explored by AFC, is a legal challenge.
“There is an argument being explored that the right to vote, and the significance of that vote depends on the assumption that the list is representative of the electors, who are eligible. So, if the list is not representative by the people like Venezuelans who would not otherwise comply, then your right to vote has been adversely impacted, and you can ask for a declaration. The arguments are being developed on that,” Hughes said.
Weighing in on the issue, Chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC), David Patterson said the party will also be proposing legislative changes at the level of the National Assembly.
“We will also know shortly, who is for it, and who is not because we are going to propose a legislation, because they said GECOM say they can’t do this, they can’t do that. We will be carrying it to Parliament, and let’s see if PPP will support it,” Patterson said.
AFC Executive and Opposition Member of Parliament, Cathy Hughes said Guyanese at home and abroad can also play their part by advocating for a clean voters’ list.
In recent times, GECOM has assured that there are safeguards in place to prevent multiple voting. It said the Commission’s operations are guided by the Laws of Guyana, and the Secretariat cannot simply remove the names of persons from the database, unless it is provided for by law.
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