General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has dismissed the Opposition’s calls for the implementation of a biometric voting system for the upcoming elections, claiming that the intention is for an “unconstitutional purpose” aimed at preventing people from voting.
While Opposition-nominated Commissioners on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) have been calling for the implementation of biometric fingerprint identification for voting, the chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, has ruled against it.
Among the reasons for rejecting the implementation include the fact that it would be unconstitutional to use it exclusively for voting, and it would take too long to be implemented for the 2025 general and regional elections.
However, Dr. Jagdeo explained at his weekly press conference on Thursday that biometrics were collected in the past.
He said that fingerprints were collected from people when they registered and would be entered into a database, where they were digitised.
Those fingerprints were cross-matched with each other, the General Secretary noted.
“They’re making it seem as though they want now electronic fingerprinting,” Dr. Jagdeo stated.
He added, “Say you show up at the polling place, and you have a blackout, and you can’t use your fingerprint, or there is some glitch in the system. You know, they can’t match your fingerprint. Then you lose the right to vote.”
Dr. Jagdeo said that one cannot lose the right to vote, reminding that the only requirement to vote is being a Guyanese aged 18 and older.
He also referenced the 1997 election, where it was agreed to the use the ID for voting.
“The plot is clear,” the General Secretary stated, explaining that the Opposition wants to employ the same plot from 1997 when they lost the elections.
