PNCR stalwart Cammie Ramsaroop has been elected Chairman of the main opposition party.
Ramsaroop, a former minister in the PNC government who had previously served in the post,
had been supported by incumbent party leader Robert Corbin and he was declared the winner after polls at the party’s 16th Biennial Congress.
Two other Corbin supporters, MPs Basil Williams and Dr. George Norton, were elected vice-chairpersons for the party. Significantly, days prior to the elections Williams, the leading candidate for the post of Chairman, controversially announced that he would step aside to facilitate the candidacy of an Indo-Guyanese candidate. Stabroek News was unable to confirm the results of elections for 15-member Central Executive Committee.
Incumbent Corbin was declared the winner after the first round of voting on Saturday evening, defeating challenger Winston Murray. He secured 614 votes to Murray’s 223, with the latter accepting the results and saying that given the wide margin of victory that despite flaws in the process and irregularities in the procedures, the incumbent would have won. Murray, who said he was disappointed by the results, also said he would take time to think about his political future.
Meanwhile, Convenor of the Accreditation Committee for the Congress, Lance Carberry said that he was not aware of massive irregularities in the process. He told Stabroek News yesterday that all the candidates had accepted the delegates’ list as accurate prior to voting. After addendums were submitted, identifying where there had been replacement delegates, the register numbered 1175. The process allows for the replacement of delegates and new delegates cards are issued where this is done. Carberry made it clear that cards are not transferred from one person to another and each has a unique identification number.
Carberry noted that Winston Murray and his group asked to verify the delegates list and upon a check by the returning officer’s assistants as well as the election observers, the accuracy of the list was accepted. Registration of replacements was subsequently ceased.
In response to concerns expressed by several people about the registration process, Carberry noted that he had not received any official complaints. “It is in my own interest to check to make sure the system I put in place worked properly,” he said, adding that he would be interested in any cases where there is evidence of irregularities.
Carberry also debunked the report that PNCR MP Judith Blair should have been an automatic voting delegate, explaining that she could not be since her party membership was not renewed by the deadline and she was not a financial member. As a result, she was offered the option of being an observer, he noted.
Prior to the voting, one man showed this newspaper a delegate card for a person whom he claimed was dead. He explained that he was told at the registration centre that his name was not on the list of delegates and after calling a regional representative he was then given a card with someone else’s name. The card appeared to be an official delegates’ card and had an identification number and Carberry’s signature. Other persons also had similar reports, saying that multiple cards were issued to supporters of the incumbent outside of the proper registration procedures.
When asked about the reports of irregularities during the registration process, Carberry said if there were any such activities then the persons who were tasked with administering the registration exercise were not doing their jobs. “If people violated those procedures, I need to know but I will check it out,” he said. Further, he revealed that he is reviewing the cards that were issued as well as those returned to him after he stopped the registration.
Voting at the polls began nearly five hours after the scheduled start owing to problems during the registration of delegates, which had first been manifested on the days before the official opening.
There were numerous claims of disenfranchisement during and after registration for delegates on Saturday, including by many members from hinterland regions 1, 7 and 9, who were only allowed to attend as observers rather than delegates. Similar complaints were made by persons from other regions as well.
Tempers flared between Corbin’s and Murray’s supporters in front of the registration centre at the start of the day, as persons lined up to collect their delegate and observer ID cards. The arrival of a contingent of Corbin supporters from regions 4 and 5, who were bussed in, led to confusion as people claimed that ID cards were being handed out in wads before any of them completed their registration. According to the official guidelines for the registration, persons were supposed to go to the centre and sign to uplift cards.
