Co-Leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr David Hinds has indicated that the WPA is not opposed to the 2025 General and Regional Elections being deferred, as a last resort to facilitate the generation of a “clean voters’ list” and the use of biometrics at polling stations, if it comes down to that.

Dr Hinds made the pronouncements during a virtual press conference today, explaining that should the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), with the backing of Parliament, indicate that it requires additional time to generate a clean voters’ list, and simultaneously introduce the use of biometrics, it would not object to a delay in the election. 

However, he said the delay should not be for more than a year. 

“Well, we would be guided by GECOM and GECOM’s timeline but we wouldn’t want the elections to delay. We wouldn’t want the delay to go beyond a year, that would be too much. We are hoping that there is no need for a delay but if a short delay would allow for all the ducks, all the possibilities for manipulation to be taken care of, we are prepared to support that delay. We think a delay over a year would be too much,” the WPA Co-Leader explained. 

Together with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), the WPA has been pushing for there to be a clean voters’ list ahead of the upcoming elections, together with the introduction of the use of biometrics at polling stations.  

The Government has not signaled its willingness to support legislative changes that are required to generate a new voters’ list through house-to-house registration, however, through the Vice President, it said it is not against use the of biometrics at the place of poll. 

Dr Hinds said the ruling party’s resistance to the cleansing of the voters list to prevent voter fraud is tantamount to holding the country at ransom. 

He said biometrics alone would not suffice, as he underscored the need for the list to be remedied. 

“If we were to clean the voters’ list, by having a brand-new voters’ list through house-to-house registration, then that narrows the possibility for voter impersonation, but, we would also like to point to what the commissioners’ of GECOM and I dare say, some of the observers, the human element in all of this. So, you can have a clean voters’ list but the human element can reach for manipulation still. So, a clean voters’ list with biometrics would be almost full proof,” he explained. 

Dr Hinds said given the documented instances of voter impersonation unearthed by the 2020 recount and confirmed by immigration authorities, the use of enhanced biometrics is urgently needed.

He said Guyana deserves a free and fair election, warning that if the current issues are not resolved, the coming election could well be a trigger for political instability. 

Dr Hinds said it is importance for the populace to have confidence in the election and the election machinery. 

He said given the ruling of the Courts in relation to the removal of citizens from the current list, the parties must pass legislation to facilitate this exercise. 

Additionally, the WPA co-leader said the party is deeply concerned about the posture of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GCOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh. He said the Chair continues to align herself with the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), by voting consistently with the PPP/C nominated commissioners. 

Noting that the current situation is unacceptable, Dr Hinds said the Chair should adopt the Dr Steve Surujbally formula of consensus decision making with the use of the casting vote as an absolute last resort.

Related posts:

Norton maintains current voters’ list cannot be used for next elections; Demands early cleanse of “bloated” list AFC to lobby international community to pressure GECOM on providing clean voters’ list Hughes calls for release of census data and clean voters list ahead of national elections Coalition would do better at Polls with Clean Voters’ List – says Volda Lawrence