Jagdeo dismisses opposition’s concerns about biometrics, voting impersonation

– Says plot a foot to undermine electoral confidence

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has once more dismissed the oppositions concerns about biometrics use, which he believes is merely a political smokescreen.

His statement, at a news conference on Thursday, comes on the heels of the leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes claims that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is incapable of holding the upcoming General and Regional Elections.

Their justification, was driven by the recent ruling by GECOM’S Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, to shelve biometrics in the upcoming elections due to it not being feasible within the time presently available.

Jagdeo dismissed this narrative, arguing that this ‘non-issue’ is being weaponised by the People’s National Congress (PNC)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and AFC parties, as a tool to undermine confidence in the electoral process and create chaos.

“Anyone who is unbiased would see that [biometrics] could disenfranchise people at the polling stations and it would lead to confusion around the elections, and that is what they want.

They want multiple fronts to claim on election day that there is rigging going on, or something of that sort,” the general secretary explained to journalists at Freedom House in Georgetown.

The opposition’s calls for biometrics are based on fraudulent voting, which they alleged was present in the 2020 elections; however, to this day, not a single shred of evidence has been presented to substantiate these claims.

Instead, Jagdeo reminded that the threat to free and fair elections came from technical staff of GECOM, who were aligned with the coalition, including embattled former Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers and former Region Four, Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo.

In fact, Former President, David Granger, his own words, described the 2020 elections as free and fair, GS Jagdeo recalled.

In a Newsroom report, Granger, accompanied by Joseph Harmon, on March 02 praised the elections, stating that “not a single complaint” had been reported at any polling station he visited.

These elections were conducted under the same GECOM management that the opposition now seeks to disrepute.

Against this backdrop, Jagdeo who also serves as vice president, expressed the government’s confidence in GECOM’s ability to conduct a democratic electoral process.

“GECOM’s ability to conduct the elections have been vastly improved. In fact, it is better now than before,” he reemphasised, noting that international and local observers will be present on E-Day.

As the party’s general secretary, Dr Jagdeo expressed confidence that the PPP will return to government, emphasizing that ‘rigging elections’ is not necessary.

In her decision on biometrics, made on January 16, 2025, retired Justice Singh said: “Introducing a system of biometric Identification of voters digitally as a mandatory, or only, means of identification would impose an additional requirement for voters and would therefore be unconstitutional. It may however, be used as an additional mechanism to aid in the identification of electors where, if a person who is eligible to vote cannot be identified using the digital fingerprint, the other methods can still be used to identify him and allow him to vote. It is my opinion that GECOM could introduce it in that way as another tool to identify persons. However, in this regard legislation will be necessary for the introduction of such tools.”

Next Tuesday, Dr Jagdeo and PPP/C officials is set to meet with the Guyana Elections Commissions, to discuss critical issues and debunk the many misinformation swirling in the public domain.