Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally says there will be no turning back in the move to general election after the final voters list is certified by Chief Election Officer Gocool Boodoo in early September.
Addressing political party representatives at the opening of a workshop on Wednesday the chairman said there are some who may “conspire to thwart” their efforts.
“Our action plan shows that he, (Boodoo) if everything is correct, we will leave no stone unturned to have everything correct, early September, I think it’s the 4th that he will be ready to provide that list. After that, that list has a shelf life of three months, do the math yourself,” Dr. Surujbally stated. The general and regional elections are constitutionally due by December 28.
The chairman’s statements come a week after PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar called for the extension of the now ended Claims and Objections period stating that a significant number of people did not get to register. The opposition coalition APNU has dubbed his call an attempt to push back the elections and stated it will not support such a move.
Dr. Surujbally also told the political representatives that it was in the best interest of all the parties “not to resurrect or incite any cleavages” in the society.
“A mature political party must distance itself from any thought of going in that direction or working it out, if ‘x’ is done could there be a resurrection of madness and mayhem in our society. This sort of cleavage can only raise tensions and carry the potential to taint the conduct of the elections,” he said.
According to him, the credibility of GECOM must always be seen as “sacrosanct.”
“Political parties must be able to say that GECOM can do the job and at that point we can say we don’t need scrutineers, GECOM is competent, is capable of carrying out this elections without us looking over their shoulders. It seems that point has not been reached yet but I hope to live to see the time when we don’t even need fingerprint cross-matching because there will be no multiple voting.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Surujbally said ignorance of the electoral process by parties both contesting or not will not be condoned.
“It bothers me when from a standpoint of non-knowledge political parties not having schooled themselves with the process decide to go on television, radio or wherever else and spout nonsense.”
Full Article: GECOM working to have elections this year – chairman | 2011/06/29/ | Latest.
