The General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has again expressed concern about the continuous attacks on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and its Secretariat, particularly its Chairperson Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.
These audacious attacks, according to him, is deliberately being orchestrated by the PNC-led opposition and several organisations.
Their goal, he highlighted, is to discredit the institution’s credibility in conducting free and fair elections and cast doubt on the upcoming electoral process.
Speaking with reporters at a press conference on Thursday, Dr Jagdeo expressed his belief that these group are targeting the commission, because of Justice Singh’s central role in upholding the will of the people during the 2020 general and regional elections.
“They are hoping to destroy her credibility. Had the Chair of GECOM not stood up in 2020, APNU would have succeeded in stealing the elections and I think they are bitter about that,” he revealed.
The general secretary recalled when Chairperson Singh resisted, on several occasions, the opposition force and pressure to breach the constitution and ignore several legal rulings, including by Guyana’s apex court, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CJJ).
However, “She stood on the side of the law and order and on the side of the electorate of the country,” Jagdeo underlined.
As a result of her actions, the opposition is maliciously asserting that the Commission led by Justice Singh, is incapable of holding democratic elections.
He further argued that the opposition’s tact’s stem from their dissatisfaction with reforms undertaken by the government, and their loss of authority within the democratic body.
“If there is anyone who is credible or any organisation or leadership that is credible, it is the Commission not the secretariat. That is why to ensure they restore credibility to that secretariat, some of the people had to be replaced,” he explained.
Furthermore, the PPP GS pointed out that their accusations connect to the broader efforts by the opposition to delegitimize the 2025 general and regional elections, as they brazenly spur ill-informed narratives.
“They’re very upset because the internal riggers, the people who rigged on their behalf were removed from the secretariat, from the staff and they don’t have a compliant chairperson, like they were hoping to have under Patterson,” he said.
During a previous conference, GS Jagdeo made it clear that the government does not have to rig an election to secure victory but is confident in their support base that has grown significantly.
Meanwhile, former government ministers and former GECOM officials are before the courts for their alleged attempts to thwart the results of the 2020 election.
Former APNU+AFC Government Minister Volda Lawrence; former GECOM Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; former GECOM Returning Officer for District Four, Clairmont Mingo; former GECOM Deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers; APNU+AFC’s Chief Scrutineer, Carol Smith-Joseph; and former GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Liven, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings, are all before the courts.
According to reports, they face nine conspiracy charges which are said to have been committed between March 2 to August 2, 2020. It is alleged that the defendants conspired during the election process to manipulate the votes cast, to defraud the electors.
Meanwhile, a presidential Commission of Inquiry (COI), launched by the PPP/C Government, found that ‘shockingly brazen attempts’ were made by Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo, to derail and corrupt the statutorily prescribed procedure for the counting, ascertaining, and tabulation of votes for the election.
The report also found the trio guilty of attempting to stymie the declaration of the results to steal the elections.