APNU and the PPP/C yesterday traded accusations of irregularities concerning the nomination process for the upcoming Local Government Elections, with both sides alleging that signatures of their supporters were forged on the list of candidates of the other party.
During a press conference hosted by PPP/C General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, APNU issued a statement and attached letters from 13 persons who claimed that their names were placed on the PPP/C’s list without their consent and asked that they be removed. The letters were addressed to the Local Authority Returning Officer with the signatures of the persons and their ID card numbers.
“I have never put my signature on their list and neither have I consented to be on their list. I want my name to be removed with immediate effect,” one letter stated.
The PPP General Secretary explained that at the time, he had not seen the complaints from APNU but noted that his party has evidence of forged candidates and is addressing the issue. “This is not just a backer, this is a candidate that they forged the person’s signature,” Jagdeo alleged as he read a letter from a resident of Linden who swore that her name was forged.
“This is a fact! This is just one person saying that APNU in Linden placed on their list a person who never signed any document or consented to their name… this has been the pattern across Guyana” he contended.
Like PNCR Leader, Aubrey Norton, who yesterday said that allegations of electoral fraud must be investigated by the police, Jagdeo said that he supports this action.
“I would be very, very happy if we go to the police and take police action against many of these people. We should do so, and I would support Mr. Norton in doing so, against anyone who he has evidence that they have forged signatures,” Jagdeo said.
The APNU release highlighted that most of the allegations were from the PPP’s Region Five stronghold. “The People’s National Congress Reform would like to bring to the attention of the nation another act of blatant electoral fraud committed by the PPP. In District (Region) #5, the PPP submitted the names of several dozens of electors claiming them to be signatories to the PPP lists for the LGE 2023 – but without their knowledge and consent. Worse, the signatures on the PPP submissions are fakes,” the release stated.
“Most of these persons have since written to, or have approached in person, the GECOM Returning Officer for the District, demanding that their names be removed immediately. See attached thirteen such letters of objections. We earlier revealed at our Press Conference today and provided evidence to the media of the cases where several PPP’s lists were obviously signed by one and the same person. These acts by the PPP do not only expose its desperation and waning popularity but are criminal in nature. The full force of the law should be brought to bear on the perpetrators and their masters at Freedom House,” it added.
Following Jagdeo’s press conference, the PPP/C issued a release which said that it had received complaints from the same region that APNU said the allegations stemmed from, that persons were intimidating and bullying them.
“People’s Progressive Party/Civic [PPP/C] has been notified by several residents of Region Five that operatives of the PNC/APNU, namely, Member of Parliament (MP) Vinceroy Jordan, Carol Smith-Joseph, and Darren Wade, have resorted to their usual intimidatory tactics and bullyism. These … characters are visiting the homes of persons in Region Five whose names appear on the PPP/C Backers’ List and …forcing them to withdraw their names by signing pre-prepared documents…”, the release stated.
It said that one of the party’s candidates for the Union/Naarstigheid Local Authority Area (LAA) – Rosaline Carmichael- issued a statement testifying that the signatures were obtained voluntarily and lawfully.
“We believe that these actions are being done to divert attention from the fact that the PNC/APNU is unable to compete in fifty-five percent of the Constituencies and twenty-four (24) Local Authority Areas (LAA) across the country and to mask the glaring shortcomings of its lists, which include among others, a lack of diversity in age and ethnicity. The party condemns in the strongest possible terms, these acts of bullyism, which is typical of the PNC/APNU, particularly in the case of the notorious Carol Smith-Joseph,” the statement said.
The PPP/C said it was calling on residents across the country “to be vigilant and to resist any such further attempts,” even as it brings the matter to the attention of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Elections Commission.
On the LGE, Jagdeo said that he believes that the APNU was trumping up claims of irregularities to distract from the fact that they are only contesting in 55% of all the constituencies, as that party had no representative in some 283 of the overall 610 constituencies.
“This for a national party like the APNU to contest in only 45 percent of the constituencies in the country is a total disaster for that party under his leadership,” he added.
Jagdeo asserted that his party is contesting in all 610 constituencies and 80 Local Authority Areas and that they have the breakdown on all of their candidates which clearly shows diversity.
