Guyana’s minority opposition Alliance For Change (AFC) has confirmed its decision to boycott the March 13, 2023, local government election (LGE) even as the opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), continues to hint at the possibility of legal action because the voter’s list is bloated.
In addition, the APNU+AFC is also concerned at the failure of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to ensure electors reside where they are registered.
In a statement, the AFC said its national executive (NEC) “after much debate, has arrived at a consensus that the party will not contest the upcoming local government elections without changes to the list of electors”.
The party also seemed to have taken umbrage at a recent remark by United Kingdom (UK) High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller, that the voters list could be used with sufficient safeguards at polling stations to guarantee one person-one-vote.
In its statement, the AFC said there was no room for compromise on its position that Guyana needs to shrink its voters roll.
“The people of Guyana have a right to feel confident in its electoral system, like the voting public in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, without unnecessary workarounds,” the AFC said, adding “the NEC believes that participating in these elections with a list proven deficient and containing widespread discrepancies would perpetrate a fraud on the Guyanese people and undermine our democratic system”.
The AFC is urging that the LGE be called off because the existing list of electors is bloated, illegitimate, and a source of electoral fraud.
“On the face of it, the current list contains the names of persons deceased, migrated and even duplicates,” that party said, adding that it has already called on GECOM to produce a credible voters’ list by conducting a certifiable house-to-house verification and registration process.
“Accordingly, we would go as far as supporting the postponement of the Local Government Elections, as was done in 1992 to present a “clean” voters’ list to the electorate,” the AFC said, noting “it is manifest that our electoral system is far from perfect, but we MUST not willfully perpetuate a deception on the people of Guyana”.
During the controversial March 2, 2020 regional and general elections, the AFC said there were multiple instances where dead people, the migrated, and a host of other shenanigans interfered with the electoral process, adding “we should not go there again! “.
Last week, the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/CX) government tabled amendments to the electoral laws to compel the General Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages to hand over the names of deceased persons to GECOM for removal from the National Database of Registrants.
The High Court has ruled that residency in Guyana cannot be used as means of removing persons from the National Database of registrants.
While the Alliance For Change (AFC) has confirmed that it would be boycotting the LGE, the APNU, whose majority leader is the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) has not indicated whether it will boycott the poll.
CMC/
 has confirmed its decision to boycott the March 13, 2023, local government election){kind=link}