Guyana’s Commissioner of Police and Chief Immigration Officer, Leslie James has responded to a letter from the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission and has indicated that based on a list of persons sent to him by her, 172 of the 207 persons on the list were out of Guyana on elections day, based on immigration records. 

The GECOM Chair dispatched the correspondence to the Chief Immigration Officer last week seeking clarification on whether a list of persons submitted to the Elections Commission by the APNU+AFC contained the names of persons who were out of the country but still allegedly voted on elections day.  

It is from that list that the Chief Immigration Officer pointed out that 172 of the persons were out of the country.

At a press conference this midday, GECOM Spokesperson Yolanda Ward said she believes that at some point the Commission will have to discuss the response of the Immigration Department, but the issue had not been discussed as yet.

Ms. Ward also indicated the Commission was aware of the Chairperson’s intention to seek the information from the Immigration Department following the receipt of the complaint from the APNU+AFC.

She said while she cannot speak to the reason behind the Chairperson seeking that information from the Immigration Department, she believes the Chairperson would have considered the power at her disposal in seeking the information.

Questioned about whether or not GECOM has confirmed that votes were indeed cast for the 172 persons found to be out of the country on Elections Day, Ms. Ward said the GECOM request was based on the complaint by the APNU+AFC.

She said she could not provide information at this time about whether the names of those 172 persons were indeed ticked off as having voted.

The People’s Progressive Party in a statement last evening continued to complain about any move by GECOM to investigate the claims of migrant and dead voting, as is being alleged by the APNU+AFC.

The PPP’s position is that the Guyana Elections Commission has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter of votes allegedly being cast by persons who were overseas on elections day or the issue of votes allegedly being cast in the name of persons who are dead. 

The PPP’s position is that the matters can only be addressed by the High Court in an election petition.   The PPP now wants to meet with the Chairperson of the Elections Commission on the issue. 

The APNU+AFC has been holding out that the recount of votes has unearthed a number of cases of fraud which brings the issue of credibility of the elections into question.

Related posts:

Coalition reminds GECOM that voters list is a public document and information about voters is therefore not private Harmon expects declaration based only on “valid votes” Police Commissioner stands by Immigration information provided to GECOM GECOM seeks assistance of Chief Immigration Officer on issue of “migrant voters” -Alexander