Combined opposition silent on “mass action” to demand clean voters list, biometrics- WPA

Last Updated on Monday, 7 April 2025, 21:47 by Writer

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) said that unless there is mass action by Guyanese or intervention by the international community, there would not be free and fair elections with the existing voters list, but said the sister opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and Alliance For Change (AFC) have remained silent.

With Guyanese expected to vote in general elections in November, WPA Co-Leader Dr David Hinds said the Joint Opposition Political Parties (JOPP) have not met in months to discuss political action. He, however, said the WPA and PNCR have been engaging regularly but there has been no movement on his party’s proposal to escalate protests beyond the just over dozen persons who picket every Tuesday outside the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for a clean voters list and digitalised biometrics. “When we met with the PNC, they gave us a commitment that our two parties, that action needs to be taken. We have not moved beyond that,” he said.

Dr Hinds said the WPA has been unable to convince sister opposition parties to take action beyond the weekly protests, but declined to offer a diagnosis or “second guess” why they have not been “aggressive”. Pressed on why, as the advocate for mass political action, the WPA has not been seeking reasons from the other parties for failing to take up the call, he said they have not been giving any. “They have not been telling us anything. They have just not been coming forward and taking action. They have not been telling us anything,” he said.

The WPA Co-Leader said he did not believe it was “good manners” to ask those political parties why nothing was happening.

The governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) and three of the seven GECOM Commissioners believe there are sufficient safeguards to ensure a free and fair poll with the existing list and without digitalised biometrics. GECOM Chairman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh is on record as saying that the law allows for digitalised capture fingerprints for registration but it would be unconstitutional to use them exclusively to determine whether someone should vote.

Dr Hinds said his party preferred the opposition to boycott the upcoming elections if its demands were not met, but he said that approach could only work if there was a supporting plan. “For such a move to have the desired effect, it would have to be embraced by the broad opposition which, in turn, would have to ensure PPP’s plans are disrupted,” he said. He said the all-opposition could not be divided on the issue, even as his party was wary that a boycott would amount to ceding the government to the PPP.

WPA General Secretary, Deon Abrams said he had grown tired of the “inaction of the opposition” in dealing with GECOM and so there was no need for “stronger agitation” beyond news conferences. He said Guyana risked external interference again in determining the outcome of the elections at a time when the incumbent PPPC administration appeared to be preferred by the United States (US).