Teixeira says Norton’s bloated list concerns are flawed; motion violated parliamentary rules

Last Updated on Monday, 7 November 2022, 19:29 by Denis Chabrol

Voting and population trends from 1964 to 2020 (extracted from the Sweden-headquartered International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira on Monday dismissed Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s persistent concerns about a bloated voters list, saying that he is using a 10-year old low national census figure to make a comparison and the opposition has so far failed to propose any amendments to the electoral laws to provide for use of biometrics at the polling stations.

“The problem with that is that he is using a figure of 2012, which is 10 years later,” she said. Ms Teixeira was quite optimistic that the 2022 National Census now underway would show that Guyana’s population has increased. “The population of Guyana has grown. There is no doubt about that,” she said, citing the number of cars on the roads. “The population has grown in this country and we expect that probably out of this census, the population may be 800,000 or even more excluding what are the migrants coming in from Venezuela,” she added.

Earlier Monday, Mr Norton restated that the voters list of about 682,000 names is bloated when compared to Guyana’s population of 750,000 persons. In the opposition motion jointly sponsored by Mr Norton and Alliance For Change Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, they said the High Court ruling that the names of persons who reside overseas could not be removed as that would be unconstitutional led to the 2020 voters list now includes over 90% of Guyana‘s total population, an excess of over 200,000 names. They said official immigration and registration records confirmed that voter impersonation was widespread during the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.

But the minister said, citing figures from sister Caribbean countries as prepared by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), Guyana was not unusual in which the number of registered voters was very high versus the national population. She said the same database was used by APNU+AFC in 2011 and 2015 as well as previous elections.

She also said Mr Norton on Monday violated parliamentary rules by tabling a motion for the cleansing

Ms. Gail Teixeira

of then voters list by amendments to Guyana’s Constitution and the electoral laws because amendments to electoral laws were slated to be debated the same day. “In the Parliament, under admissibility of motions, you’re not allowed to bring a motion that anticipates a matter coming before the House. This has been ruled on by several Speakers in the past. It is part of the Standing Orders of Guyana,” she said.

Ms Teixeira said Mr Norton’s main opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) would have an opportunity to propose amendments to Guyana’s Constitution to provide for the registration of persons in Guyana. She said Guyanese overseas would like to vote in elections in their homeland and Mr Norton seemed to believe that they would return and vote for her governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC). “If he wishes this to become a reality, then it has to go through the constitutional reform process. It’s a constitutional amendment which requires a two-thirds majority. He will hen have to win support for that in the constitutional reform process. It cannot be done from the side, shouting from the corners and walking out from the Parliament and he well knows that,” he said.

Government insisted that that there was no evidence of voter impersonation and that the key safeguards are counting of the votes at the place of poll- “the most powerful” mechanism- and the presence of political party representatives at polling stations. Reflecting on the 2020 general and regional elections, she said “there was no case” of voter impersonation and she questioned why A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) polling agents never reported such instances. “The problem hadn’t anything to do with voter impersonation; it had nothing to do with the fraudulence of any count at the place of poll. It had to do with GECOM officials, with members of the government and APNU+AFC conspiring,” she said.

Ms Teixeira contended that Mr Norton harboured paranoia that all Guyanese living overseas would return home and vote for the PPPC. She said the PPP was not fearful of losing an election if the Constitution was amended to allow for residency as a requirement, even as she stuck to her recognition of the High Court ruling registrants’ names could not be removed from the voters list because they no longer live in Guyana. “No, we’re not,” she said about whether the PPP was worried about being defeated, adding that Guyanese who were born overseas and get a Guyanese passport and so that could have implications for residency requirements.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton (centre) flanked by other APNU+AFC parliamentarians.

According t0 the government, APNU+AFC would have an opportunity to propose amendments to the registration process contained in Guyana’s Constitution at the upcoming reform process which was approved by the National Assembly earlier in the day.  The Parliamentary and Governance Affairs Minister, however, highlighted that overseas-based Guyanese wanted a say in their country’s affairs. “We’ll see when the consultation takes place. I’m not predicting that. This is a consultative process. It’s democratic. The PPP will have their opinion, the other parties will have their opinion, civil society will have their opinion. We will go to the public. Right now, Guyanese living overseas want to vote in Guyana. They want to actually be in Parliament,” she said.

Ms Teixeira, who is also a PPP Executive Committee member, said the Opposition Leader did not submit its motion for legal and constitutional amendments to the National Assembly. Under the hands of the Opposition Leader and the AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, the motion, which was later released to the media, stated among other things that “be it resolved that the National Assembly urgently discuss and enact the necessary  constitutional and statutory amendments to authorize GECOM (i) to remove from the NRRDB (National Registry of Registrants Database) the names of persons who no longer reside in Guyana, and (ii) to use modern voting technology.”

In response to the opposition’s call for biometrics to be used at polling stations as a form of identification to avoid voter impersonation, she said the process already provides for the provision of biodata at registration and in folios at polling stations. She said if Mr Norton had a concrete proposal for enhanced biometrics/ electronic voting he should have recommended changes in the consultations. “If that were so, the opposition has every right to put forward amendments to the election bills that have been tabled today so when we meet next they can put up their amendments,” she said.

Government on Monday tabled amendments to make it mandatory for the General Registrar’s Office to transmit records of deaths to the Guyana Elections Commission for removal from the national database of registrants.