The major parties appealed for calm yesterday as results from the elections continued to trickle in and figures from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the AFC pointed to a possible close race for the presidency between the ruling PPP/C and opposition coalition APNU.
The PPP/C last night called on GECOM to make preliminary results public as soon as possible, saying that it would relieve the “disquiet” among citizens “as they anxiously await the election results.” The call came hours after the PPP/C requested recounts in regions 3, 4 and 10, which both major opposition parties APNU and AFC refused to participate in, with the former expressing concern over “interference” in the elections process. TUF, the other contesting party in the national polls, did not object to the PPP/C’s request. The call for a recount of ballots in some polling areas, PPP/C said, “must not be misconstrued as an attempt to interrupt or delay the ongoing counting process and declaration of results.” Political observers however say the call for recounts is a sign that the PPP/C acknowledges that it is in a tight race for the presidency.
National results televised by GECOM at about 10 pm last evening saw APNU recording 42,619 votes, followed by