Norton Renews Calls for Clean Voters List as GECOM Reveals Over 718,000 Registered Voters
Antonio Day | HGP Nightly News
Georgetown, Guyana – As the country prepares for the September 1, 2025, general and regional elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) confirmed on July 18 that there are currently 718,715 registered voters. However, mounting pressure continues to grow for the public release of the 2022 census data, which has yet to be published by the Bureau of Statistics.
Opposition Leader and Presidential Candidate Aubrey Norton, of the Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has once again raised concerns over the credibility of the voters’ list, citing long-standing suspicions that it may be “padded.”
“For five years we have contended that the list is padded and that there was need for a clean voters list and biometrics,” Norton stated in response to Nightly News.
Norton accused the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) of resisting proposals for the use of biometric technology to bolster election transparency and prevent fraud. He issued a stern warning to the incumbent:
“We intend to monitor the elections as much as we could, but we also have sent the signal to the PPP that rigging wouldn’t be accepted. There are going to be serious consequences for attempting to rig these elections.”
To support his claims, Norton referenced the 2023 Local Government Elections, pointing to an incident where a deceased woman was allegedly listed as a nominator for a PPP candidate.
“I remember vividly, Mariju [likely referring to Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall] having to apologize for the PPP forging dead people’s signatures,” he said, citing the case of the late Cheryl Jacob of Number Seven Village, West Coast Berbice.
That controversy led to public outcry and ultimately a public apology by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo to the family of the deceased.
With election day drawing near and public trust in electoral processes under scrutiny, calls continue to mount from civil society and the opposition alike for greater transparency, electoral reform, and release of critical national data.
