General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has expressed satisfaction with certain aspects of the recent Carter Center report on the electoral environment in Guyana ahead of the September 1 polls, while also voicing different views with other elements.
Speaking at his weekly press briefing at State House on Thursday, Dr Jagdeo said he is especially satisfied with the findings regarding allegations of a bloated voter’s list.
“The report confirms what we’ve been saying all along, that there’s absolutely no evidence that the list is bloated. This has been APNU’s battle cry all along- that people who should not be on the list are on the list. They provided absolutely no evidence for it. The Carter Centre examined all the evidence and they found no evidence of a bloated list,” he said.
Dr Jagdeo added that he is also pleased with the observation in the report that the election environment is peaceful and that political parties are campaigning freely and openly across the country. He noted that he is extremely pleased with those findings because they are crucial to the conduct of the elections.
However, Dr Jagdeo expressed concern over other parts of the report, which he noted are based on allegations by the opposition. “They could have done better,” he said in this regard.
With respect to the issue of members of the WIN Party having their accounts closed by banks due to affiliation with OFAC-sanctioned presidential candidate Azruddin Mohamed, Dr Jagdeo expressed dissatisfaction with this aspect of the report.
The Center, in its report, cautioned against “over compliance” with sanctions, warning that such actions undermine democratic rights.
This, the PPP general secretary said is odd, that is, to tell banks how they must conduct their affairs when even OFAC refused to do that.
“OFAC made it clear- we will not tell the local banks what to do, because each bank operates within a framework. So, I find that very strange,” he pointed out.
The Center also noted that it received widespread allegations that the ruling party used state vehicles, workers, and resources for campaigning.
Dr Jagdeo, however, said he finds this strange as well because the President is “still the president of Guyana”, while alleging that upon leaving office in 2020, former ministers of the opposition continued using state assets five months after losing the elections.
