The PPP on Monday said some of its supporters were tricked into signing up as backers for APNU+AFC candidates for the upcoming local government elections.
The party said it had confirmed the reports from Rose Hall Town, Berbice and it has since received similar reports from regions Three, Six and Nine.
Speaking during a weekly press conference on Monday, Executive Secretary Zulfikar Mustapha said that 40 of the party’s supporters have protested the presence of their names on two APNU+AFC candidates’ lists and have since obtained sworn affidavits to distance themselves from the groupings.
Contacted for a comment, Deputy Chief Election Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) Vishnu Persaud told Stabroek News that the issue has since been rectified.
Persaud said that the affected persons indicated that they did not know what they were signing on to and requested that their names be withdrawn.
The representatives of the lists, he said, were informed by Gecom officials that the lists had defects and corrective action was taken to remove the names and insert replacements. All of this, Persaud reiterated, occurred within the timeframe allotted.
“Insofar as Gecom is concerned, the issue has now been resolved,” he said.
Mustapha, reading from one of the affidavits, said that between January 11 and January 24, an APNU candidate showed a form to some PPP supporters and she indicated that she was visiting on behalf of the Rose Hall Town Council and that they needed to sign the form in order for their area to be cleaned and for drainage to be done by the council. He said that according to the affidavit, the PPP supporters said that they believed her but they later learned that they were listed as backers for two APNU candidates in the upcoming elections.
He said that while the PPP has taken note of Gecom saying that it will investigate the allegation, the party is looking at its options as similar claims are coming out of three other regions.
According to Mustapha, the party plans to write Gecom officially on the matter.
Meanwhile, he said the PPP also plans to write Gecom shortly to request a meeting to discuss the Disciplined Services voting, which is scheduled for March 18.
