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AFC concerned about PPP’s request for changes to polling locations
Leader of the AFC Nigel Hughes
Kaieteur News – Pending the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) decision on the People Progressive Party Civic’s (PPP/C) request to change polling stations ahead of the September 1 general and regional elections, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has voiced serious concerns over the timing and potential implications of such a move.
Speaking at the party’s press conference on Friday, AFC leader Nigel Hughes, addressed the PPP’s request to move several polling stations from public buildings to private residences. With just two days left before the elections, Hughes questioned the transparency and fairness of implementing such changes at the last minute.
“We know that the People’s Progressive Party had asked to change 66 locations, most of them being moved from official buildings to private residences,” Hughes said. “The difficulty with this is that if it is accepted by GECOM as a commission now, none of the other parties contesting in the elections will have an opportunity to object to any of those new locations that are being proposed and that’s a problem.”
He further emphasised the risk of bias, stating “If one of the proposed addresses is that of Mr. Sharma, the candidate for the AFC, when are the parties going to have an opportunity to object? So again, we are creating the basis for concerns about the results.” Hughes stressed that such last-minute decisions by GECOM could undermine public confidence in the transparency of the electoral process.
The issue surfaced during GECOM’s statutory meeting on Thursday, when PPP/C-nominated commissioners submitted the request to move 14 polling stations from public facilities to private residences. However, opposition-nominated commissioners immediately rejected the proposal and walked out of the meeting in protest, resulting in the loss of quorum and halting any further deliberations.
Opposition-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander described the request as untimely and procedurally improper. “This was occurring at a time when GECOM had already publicly advertised the location of the polling stations and weeks after the deadline for objection to the location of polling stations had elapsed,” Alexander said. “The opposition-appointed commissioners refused to participate in that travesty, hence they withdrew from the meeting, which then lost its quorum.”
In contrast, government-nominated commissioner Manoj Narayan defended the proposal, citing legal grounds. “Their reason for that is stated by law,” he explained. “Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act, together with Sections 34 and especially 35, makes it clear that polling places are to be fixed within the village in which electors are to vote. The polling places must also be within a reasonable distance of where the electors live. That is the law. It is mandatory. GECOM has an obligation to ensure that is done.”
Narayan noted that the request stemmed from legitimate concerns, especially on the East Coast, where some voters were reportedly required to travel to neighboring villages to cast their ballots. “In many cases, voters have to go to a different village to vote, which we felt was a contravention of the law, and that was what we were trying to rectify,” he said.
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