In a meeting with the Opposition on Tuesday, a group of western Diplomats reportedly put forward a number of proposals that could contribute to the country having “free and fair elections” when citizens head to the polls on September 1.

This is according to the Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton.

Mr. Norton met with the Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union, Rene van Nes along with US Ambassador Nicole D. Theriot, Canadian High Commissioner Sébastien Sigouin and British High Commissioner Jane Miller at his Congress Place Office.

He was accompanied by PNCR General Secretary, Sherwin Benjamin and Party Executives, Mervyn Williams, Ganesh Mahipaul, MP and Coretta McDonald, MP.

“They identified some things that they were going to put in place to help as far as practically possible for them to have elections that are above board. To use one of their own phases, ‘elections that stand up to best practices,” Norton told News Sources today.

He said during the course of the meeting, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) expressed its lack of confidence in the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to deliver free and fair elections.

Though not giving specifics, Norton said while the proposals put forward by the western diplomats are “reasonable,” the concerns of the party remain the same.

Those concerns include the use of a bloated list, registration of ineligible persons to vote, threats by the PPP against government workers, and misuse of state resources by the PPP/C to campaign for the PPP.

“Their proposals are reasonable but the problem is, like I have said before, one, you already have a bloated list, two the government is using state resources to campaign. So, by the very acts of the government, you start the progress of rigging,” he said.

He said the PNCR will scrutinize the electoral process as much as possible to “reduce the levels of illegalities.”

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