Gov’t asks GECOM to hand over APNU+AFC documents on immigration, deaths

Last Updated on Thursday, 1 September 2022, 23:08 by Writer

The Guyana government has asked the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to hand over a document that had been submitted by A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) to back claims that many persons had voted in the names of others who were overseas or dead.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall said he on Tuesday wrote GECOM Chairman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh to send him the document that the coalition had claimed was based on information received from the immigration department and possibly the General Registrar’s Office. “As soon as those documents are received from the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, the investigation will begin by the relevant State machinery and hopefully it proceeds with due speed so that we can get a conclusion as early as is reasonably possible” he said.

He said the documents would be dispatched to investigators to ascertain their authenticity and who instructed that those documents be prepared, even though they had been discredited by voters who had come forward to prove that they were alive, in Guyana and had voted in the March 2020 general and regional elections.

“At the end of this process, at the end of this inquiry and/or investigation, whatever laws were violated, if any, will be enforced by the relevant law enforcement agency and if there is evidence to yield criminal charges, then criminal charges shall be instituted and shall be prosecuted according to law,” he said.

He said that “ridiculous” allegation continues to be peddled by the coalition.

At least 32 criminal charges against then GECOM officials and supporters of the People’s National Congress Reform are pending.

The Attorney General said the Commission of Inquiry into the 2020 general and regional elections “will soon begin its work.”