General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has described the People’s National Congress case, which was thrown out by the High Court on Wednesday, as another attempt to “steal people’s rights to vote.”
He expressed this view at his weekly press conference on Thursday.
“So, what, in a nutshell, is this all about? The core contention is that if they come to your address today, and you are on the voters’ list but they cannot find you there, you lose the right to vote. That is what they are saying. Imagine you move from one area to another… you lose the right to vote. If you have gone out of the country, they want verification… if you are in hospital or somewhere else, you lose the right to vote. That is what APNU is trying to secure now. They are trying to steal people’s right to vote, and this will affect everybody, not just the PPP alone. You just lose your right as a citizen of the country,” he explained. “And the Chief Justice just said no… the Constitution is quite clear.”

He added: “That is why we cautioned against their version of biometrics. There are already biometrics on the list, but they wanted to give the determination of your right to vote to the 2,500 presiding officers, taking it away from the Constitution of Guyana, which protects all of us, and giving it to 2,500 presiding officers.”
Acting Chief Justice Roxane George dismissed the case brought by People’s National Congress Reform Chief Scrutineer, Carol Smith-Joseph, in the voter house-to-house verification matter.
Justice George noted that the addresses provided to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) at the time of registration must be accepted by the electoral body, as it is not the Commission’s role to verify the addresses claimed by registrants at the time of registration.
She ruled that this information must be accepted by GECOM and included in the National Register of Registrants, followed by the Official List of Electors, in accordance with the requirements of Article 159.