APNU wants law amended for digital biometric verification of voters

Last Updated on Tuesday, 4 November 2025, 21:19 by Writer

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Monday tabled a motion in the National Assembly as a first step towards the amendment of the Representation of the People Act for voters to be digitally verified before they are allowed to cast ballots in the 2030 general and regional elections.

“This motion seeks to strengthen the integrity of Guyana’s electoral system by requiring biometric verification of voters at the time of voting. It is intended to prevent voter impersonation, reduce the need for extensive scrutineering by political parties, particularly smaller ones, and restore public confidence in the credibility of election outcomes,” states APNU MP Dr Terrence Campbell in a covering letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly that accompanied the motion.

The motion itself states the use of modern biometric technologies—such as fingerprint and facial recognition—has proven effective in many democracies worldwide in preventing voter fraud and ensuring that only duly registered electors cast ballots.

APNU hopes that the implementation of such technologies will reduce the administrative and financial burdens on political parties, while simultaneously enhancing the credibility, transparency, and integrity of elections in Guyana.

The motion also notes that the 2025 general and regional elections were similarly marred by allegations of voter impersonation and other irregularities which have called into question the integrity of the results, and smaller political parties, in particular, face significant challenges in recruiting, training, and remunerating scrutineers to monitor the voting process and guard against voter impersonation.

The motion proposes that the National Assembly calls upon the Government to amend Section 69 of the Representation of the People Act, Cap. 1:03, to include a new provision requiring that every voter, prior to casting his or her ballot, shall produce such additional evidence as may be determined by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to establish, by means of fingerprint or facial recognition, that the person is the registered voter whose name and voter identification number appear in the Official List of Electors.

The motion also calls on the government, in consultation with the GECOM, to take the necessary legislative, technical, and administrative steps to give effect to that amendment in time for the next general and regional elections.

GECOM Chairman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh earlier this year said digitalised biometrics could be used for registration of persons, but it would be unconstitutional to use that as the sole means for verification of electors before they could be allowed to vote.

The High Court had invalidated the 1997 general and regional elections because GECOM has used voter identification cards in keeping with a bipartisan political agreement.

The People’s National Congress Reform-led APNU tabled the motion on Monday, hoping that it would address allegations of voter fraud that have surrounded every general and regional election in Guyana since independence in 1966, eroding public confidence in the electoral process.