As the country continued to wait for the results of Monday’s polling, both the opposition alliance APNU+AFC and the incumbent PPP/C yesterday declared that they had an unassailable lead.
However, both sides also acknowledged that only the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) had the authority to declare official results.
It was APNU+AFC presidential candidate David Granger who first went public at around 3:40 PM with declaration of results from some 2,025 Statements of Poll that were tabulated by his campaign.
“At the present time, with 2,025 Statement of Polls counted (or 88%), the APNU+AFC has 182,176 votes, while the PPP/C has 157,947 a variance of 24,229 votes,” Granger announced at a press conference at the coalition’s headquarters in Alberttown.
“The APNU+AFC Coalition, therefore, after careful examination of the results can be seen to have a commanding lead in the polls. APNU+AFC continues to urge its supporters to remain calm as the official announcement of the results of the elections is awaited,” he added.
Granger’s announcement was greeted with resounding jubilation that shook the building as supporters began running around screaming of a victory.
Granger said the results show that in what were formerly PPP/C strongholds in regions 3, 5 and 6, the opposition coalition has made significant inroads. In regions 4 and 10, he added, the coalition has improved over the performance of APNU and the AFC which campaigned separately in 2011.
Granger said he saw nothing wrong with publicising preliminary results before Gecom’s official declaration as he believed that not only were the Statements of Poll public documents but that each party has a right to relay information in a timely manner to the very public.
He pointed out that while some may criticise the coalition’s preliminary announcement, social media and websites were already flooded with similar reports. “With modern media and information already in the public, we have an obligation to communicate with the general public,” he said.
Campaign co-chair Raphael Trotman pointed out that Stabroek News was also disseminating the results of Statements of Poll that it had gathered.
Following Granger’s announcement, President Donald Ramotar announced that based on tabulations from 2,213 Statements of Poll, the PPP/C has 182,664 votes to APNU+AFC’s 151,095 and was optimistic about continuing in office.
At a press briefing held at Freedom House on the heels of the APNU+AFC press conference, Ramotar noted that he was not declaring a victory. He said he was just making the disclosure in response to the earlier APNU+AFC declaration, which he condemned as being reckless.
“It is very, very clear you can see that we have won Region 1, Region 2, we have won Region 3, we have won Region 5, we have won Region 6, not clear on where region 8 is as yet, but we have won Region 9,” he said.
Ramotar made no mention of results for region 4 or 10 but he did note that the opposition had won in Region 7.
Ramotar accused the opposition of being “irresponsible” and deliberately creating chaos within the society. “The PPP calls on Gecom and the observers to condemn this action given the unfortunate consequences it can precipitate for our country,” Ramotar noted.
He said the “irresponsible declaration creates a dangerous situation given that Gecom is yet to announce the official results.”
When pressed by reporters on whether he was confident, he said, “If my lead is about 30,000, I am very, very confident.”
Ramotar did, however, say that there were still ongoing issues that needed to be investigated. These issues, he noted, may have led to irregularities in the voting process. He noted that the party has already told the international observers and the elections commission of alleged vote recycling.
He also accused Gecom staff of collusion, while noting that many of the alleged instances of election tampering could not have been possible without the knowledge of the commission staff.
Stabroek News asked if the criticism was going to be the basis for a possible challenge of the election results should the opposition be declared the winner and Ramotar would only say that “I want to have every vote that people voted for me.”
PPP/C candidate Dr Frank Anthony charged that while the party has been vague in providing evidence, ballot box numbers and the names of person who have complained about their franchise being interfered with were submitted to Gecom as well as the elections observers.
He said that the information was just not ventilated in the media.
