Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo today said the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) should have all systems in place by August 2025 to facilitate General and Regional Elections.

Ahead of those elections, the Opposition wants the Voters’ List to be sanitized, and systems to be put in place for electronic voting and the use of biometrics at the place of poll.

But the Vice President said the Government will not allow the Opposition to derail the electoral process with their demands, although he has made similar demands when he was in Opposition.

“GECOM must focus on preparing for the 2025 Elections. They have to be ready to conduct these elections sometime by August of next year or so, to allow the president the room to decide when he wants to hold elections. So, they have to focus their attention on that issue,” the Vice President said. 

In the past, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had advocated for a number of changes to the country’s electoral laws.

Mr. Jagdeo said those amendments have strengthened the country’s electoral framework, and mandates the Election Commission to develop an Election Manual that will clearly outline the electoral systems, and the roles and responsibilities of election officials, officers, clerks and agents, in addition to other key actors.

The Vice President said the amendments also pave the way for all Statements of Poll (SOPs) to be published electronically long before they are certified. 

Describing the system as “robust,” he said though more than 660,000 persons were listed to vote during the last election, only 460,000 voted, because the system worked. 

No longer a champion for biometrics, the Vice President said it could lead to disruption. 

“If you have iris scan in the polling place, you will never get to vote with APNU now. You will never get to vote. They will create a million reason for you not to vote at the polling place… They just looking for confusion in the future, and we are not going to give them an opportunity for confusion. So, we have built a strong [system]. We will not act unconstitutionally. You cannot remove people’s name from the voters’ list for residency reasons. The system is robust enough to prevent them from voting, and they must get strong polling agents like we had in the past to ensure that happens,” the Vice President said. 

He said his previous calls for enhanced biometrics was never intended to shut out people from the polling place. 

“The enhance biometric was not to shut out people from the polling place. But to ensure at the polling place, we don’t have people who voted, that shouldn’t vote. And that is why, I said we should explore the possibility of enhanced biometrics. Their enhanced biometrics is to shut down and start over from scratch. I don’t have an objection to any system, biometric or not that would seek to ensure that people who vote, are the people who are eligible to vote,” the Vice President said. 

Last week, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes warned that Guyana could remain in a state of “perpetual crisis” if GECOM and the country’s legislators do not move to address the issues plaguing the electoral system.

Related posts:

Jagdeo backs GECOM Chair’s decision not to review 2020 Elections GECOM ready for vote recount; Awaiting signed agreement between Granger, Jagdeo and CARICOM GECOM Chair tells President Commission will be ready for elections by end of February 2020 Jagdeo ready to engage President on GECOM Chairman appointment