Last Updated on Friday, 5 September 2014, 17:54 by GxMedia
The opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Friday accused the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of trumping up concerns about the integrity of the preliminary voters list to find excuses for its imminent defeat at general and regional elections expected later this year or by next January.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has already discarded the PPP’s claims that the preliminary voters roll was padded and that the list wrongfully contained the names of dead persons.
APNU Shadow Local Government Minister, Ronald Bulkan charged that the PPP was making those claims because it was running scared due to waning traditional support that would spell doom in the ballot box. “We are seeing a different mindset and a different attitude o n the part of the PPP. They are running from the polls, which are imminent, and I’ll say that the PPP is behaving like a cornered rat,” he told a news conference.
That parliamentary coalition accused the PPP of blaming GECOM, engaging in delaying tactics and ultimately preparing the wicket to cry foul when it would have lost the election. Bulkan welcomed GECOM’s defence of the integrity of the list in the face of the PPP’s spurious and baseless claims.
Earlier this week, PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee skirted a question about whether the PPP was laying the groundwork to explain a defeat or poor showing at the election. Instead, he reasoned that APNU might be more interested in confusion and disorder as part of a wider plan to question the results. “We want to start out from now to ensure that the process is clean, orderly and transparent,” he said.
Rohee has said that GECOM would have little choice but to give into the PPP’s request, if submitted, for another round continuous registration to be held to clean up the list. “GECOM don’t contest elections. We and if we are not satisfied with the list, we will make our voices and our demands heard. We have an election to win. We don’t have an election to lose,” he has said.
GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally has already said that he would not support another cycle of continuous registration.
