General Secretary of the PPP, Clement Rohee [right] and PPP member, Zulficar Mustapha. [iNews' Photo]

[www.inewsguyana.com] – The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) says the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) needs to update the nation on their state of readiness for Local Government Elections (LGE).

At its weekly press conference, General Secretary of the Party, Clement Rohee said “It is necessary that GECOM let the Guyanese people know that systems and preparations are in place should these elections be called. One must also be cognizant of the fact that these elections will be held under a new electoral system.”

Point to note is that Chairman of GECOM, Dr Steve Surujbally has made it clear that when the government announces a date for any election, GECOM will be ready within six months.

However, Rohee told the news conference that even though GECOM claimed that ground work and consultations were done in the 585 constituencies, they must do physical verification of the voters list.

“They [GECOM] must have 585 accurate lists of electors in order to hold elections. How far has GECOM gone with this process? The PPP is very apprehensive that this has not been done thoroughly so as to ensure that every eligible voter will be in his/her constituent. Therefore GECOM should do physical verification within the communities to place persons on the respective list thus allowing for a fair and transparent process whenever Local Government Elections are called,” Rohee asserted.

These elections were last held in 1994 and even though President Donald Ramotar promised to set a date during his election campaign, this is yet to be done.