Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton on Friday said in addition to the opposition’s demand for biometrics at the place of poll and a clean voters’ list ahead of next year’s national elections, the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Claudette Singh needs to also step down. 

Mr. Norton has been pressing for the GECOM Chairman, Claudette Singh, to be replaced for more than three years.

At his weekly press conference on Friday, Mr. Norton called for the Elections Commission to be professional in the execution of its mandate. He said at present, the Commission is “openly serving the interests of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic”.

According to the Opposition Leader, the Elections Commission needs a new Chairman.

“The Chairman of GECOM is now a partisan political actor, having voted on every occasion with the PPP members of the Commission. She is a political partisan who must go. There can be no free and fair elections under her leadership. Claudette Singh is an integral part of the PPP machinery to rig the 2025 General and Regional Elections,” the PNC Leader said. 

Additionally, he accused the Deputy Chief Election Officer of not operating in an impartial manner.

“It must be recalled that it was the said Aneal Giddings that disappeared with GECOMs computer hard drive in 2020 in pursuance of the PPP agenda. The Opposition wishes to make it very clear that he cannot be a senior member of the GECOM staff since he is a political partisan and cannot be expected to be part of a free and fair elections process,” Norton said. 

He said at present, GECOM, under its current structure, cannot and will not deliver free and fair elections. 

The Opposition Leader said there is a great need for an independent and professional Chairman and staff to carry out the functions of the election machinery, adding that political parties, civil society, the international community, and other stakeholders, must reach a consensus on the measures to be put in place at GECOM to ensure elections are fair, credible and acceptable to the people of Guyana.

At the press conference, the PNCR Leader said the Opposition welcomes Government’s position that it is not disposed to biometrics at the next General and Regional Elections. He, however, said biometrics must be part of a package to ensure free and fair elections.

“Biometrics without a clean voters’ list will not allow for a free and fair election. It is therefore imperative that we have a clean voters list in which the existence of the person on the list is verified and it is established that they are eligible to vote,” the PNCR Leader said. 

He said the opposition is prepared to give the Government support at the parliamentary level to make the necessary changes to the law to ensure a clean voters list.

 “Every child in Guyana knows that the PPP is giving every Tom, Dick, Harrilall , Spanish , Chinese or, and Bangladeshis national identification cards having removed the strict requirements to obtain a birth certificate and the verification of an eligible voter. Clearly, the system has to be fixed to ensure free and fair elections,” he said. 

The Government has asked the Guyana Elections Commission to have all systems in place for national elections by August 2025.

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