Voters list is “dirty”- Granger

Last Updated on Monday, 23 March 2015, 10:41 by GxMedia

Opposition Leader, David Granger has raised concerns about what appears to be a “dirty” bloated voters list and urged supporters to be vigilant on polling day.

Addressing supporters of the coalition A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) at a fund-raising event in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York, he urged them to be vigilant.

“Do not take things for granted. Do not be complacent. The list has suddenly gone up by a hundred thousand to 567 thousand. Keep your eyes open. We do not believe in that. How in three years in a country in which the population is falling the voters list has gone up by a hundred thousand,?’ he told more than 300 persons at the fund-raising meeting held at Naresa’s Place.

If the coalition is voted into office on May 11, 2015 it plans to overhaul the voters list. “We are better together because APNU and AFC will sit down and decide that we are going to work towards having a clean list. That’ a dirty list and we are going to clean elections for not only this year but years to come,”  he said.

GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally is already on record as saying that the seven-member elections management body has been exploring other ways of removing the names of deceased persons. On the other hand, he has previously attributed the increased number of registrants to greater public education and improved access to birth certificates.

Granger expressed confidence that APNU+AFC would be victorious at the upcoming polls because back in 2011, the parties together won 175,000 votes and the incumbent People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) 166,000 votes. “Even if we perform at the same level as 2011, we will win,” said Granger.

Chairman of the AFC’s New York/New Jersey Chapter, Dr. Rohan Somar called on attendees to embark on a massive telephone campaign to their friends and relatives in Guyana to urge them to vote for the coalition. “Each and everyone of you let’s commit to a cause- members of the Diaspora to have phone calls from the Diaspora to our friends in Guyana,” he said.

The opposition coalition hopes to establish a government of national unity, transparency and accountability.