– Says adequate measures in place to prevent fraudulent voting
People’s Progressive Party’s General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has again slammed the PNC-led opposition for attempts to create chaos ahead of the 2025 General and Regional Elections.
His statement, at a news conference on Thursday, comes as Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh, announced that a biometric voting system will be shelved in the upcoming electoral process.
In her decision, made on January 16, 2025, she said: “Introducing a system of biometric Identification of voters digitally as a mandatory, or only, means of identification would impose an additional requirement for voters and would therefore be unconstitutional. It may however, be used as an additional mechanism to aid in the identification of electors where, if a person who is eligible to vote cannot be identified using the digital fingerprint, the other methods can still be used to identify him and allow him to vote. It is my opinion that GECOM could introduce it in that way as another tool to identify persons. However, in this regard legislation will be necessary for the introduction of such tools.”
Even though this ruling was welcomed by numerous organisations, the opposition camp launched a scathing attack on the chairperson, with one party calling for protest actions.
Addressing this issue, General Secretary Jagdeo argued that these actions, firstly, signify the opposition’s desperate attempts to rewrite their sordid track record of rigged elections, by shifting focus to biometrics for a transparent election.
“It’s s a storm in a teacup created by APNU and AFC to distract the people of this country from their sordid track record of stealing elections,” he emphasised.
Secondly, he added that the Opposition seems intent acting in a manner that would disenfranchise eligible voters.
“[The intent] is to prevent people from voting … say you show up at the polling place, you have a blackout and you can’t use your fingerprint, or there is some glitch in the system [and] then you lose the right to vote…,” he informed reporters.
Thirdly, Jagdeo was also wary of the fact that if such a system – the imposition of additional biometric requirements for voter verification – were implemented, the opposition could move to challenge the results by declaring such requirements unconstitutional. This, according to Jagdeo, is part of their historical tactics of undermining elections.*
He also pointed out that challenges will arise in its implementation, which would delay the holding of elections and create confusion at polling stations.
“This is where they want to head. The plot is clear. Even from opposition, their mindset is crooked around stealing elections,” Jagdeo asserted.
Dr Jagdeo hailed the decision of the GECOM Chair as one that upholds the constitutional principles, arguing that the rulings are consistent and focused on preserving the right to vote.
According to him, opposition leaders, including AFC Nigel Hughes are vilifying the chair because her actions do not align with their agenda, and is part of a broader attempt to distract Guyanese from their history of election rigging.
The Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) have expressed their support for the Commission’s decision, stating that GECOM already has stringent systems in place to ensure voting on Election Day is secure and fair.