The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday failed to get anywhere near to declaring a final result as anxiety mounted in various sectors and duelling reports swirled as to who was victorious.
At press time, GECOM had not made an official declaration of the results of the General Elections but as Regional results continue to be released by the 10 Returning Officers (RO) it is clear that the incumbent APNU+AFC and the opposition PPP/C were locked in a keen contest. (See box by box results on centre pages). There have been some votes for A New and United Guyana and the Liberty and Justice Party, raising the possibility that with their lists joined they could make a run for one seat.
On Monday, Guyanese cast ballots in both the General and Regional Elections. Electoral law prescribes that only Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield can declare the General Elections. At the level of the Regions each Returning Officer is required to make a public declaration of the results of those elections.
The smaller parties such as Change Guyana (CG), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and the United Republic Party (URP) managed only a smattering of votes. A New United Guyana (ANUG) and The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) did not contest at the Regional level.
Official results for Regional Elections in Regions One, Two, Five, Eight, Nine and 10 show the People’s Progressive Party/Civic will control at least four of Guyana’s RDCs while the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition will retain control of Regions Eight and Ten.
There have been no results announced in Region Three. When Stabroek News reached out RO Mohanlall Jagdeo he indicated that he is having difficulty with getting the Statement of Poll signed by the two major parties and will make the declaration this morning once the matter is resolved.
Region Four RO, Clairmont Mingo could not be reached for comment while attempts to reach Region 7 RO Glendon Fredericks failed due to a poor telecommunication signal. He was however able to indicate that he was on “the boat on the way to Parika.”
The results also show a significant turnout of voters with an average of turnout of more than 60% in each Region which has announced. In Region One 63.6% of the 18,952 registered voters cast a valid ballot, in Region Two that percentage was 69.8% of 37,979 and in Region Five a whopping 73.8% of the 44,663 registered electors cast a vote.
The lowest turnout so far was seen in Region Eight where only 56% of registered electors cast a valid vote. However in Region Nine a total of 68.8% of electors cast a valid vote while in Region Ten 67% of eligible electors cast valid ballots. Observers have said that the turnout is probably higher as the list had been bloated by the names of the dead and the migrated.
Traditionally voting at the Regional Election mirrors that of the General Elections. If this pattern holds true then the undeclared Regions including Region 4 are likely to have a significant impact on the final results.
In 2015 the PPP/C was able to secure wins in Regions One, Two, Three, Five, Six and Nine while the APNU+AFC won control of Regions Four, Seven, Eight and Ten.
Region Four which has the largest registered population 285,618 or 43% of the 660,998 total was the deciding factor in 2015. The incumbent managed to secure in excess of 40,000 votes more than the PPP/C. These votes propelled the coalition to victory. The race this time around between the two parties is thought to be tighter.
As of midnight it was not clear when results from Region 4 would be announced by PPP/C Election Agent Anil Nandlall had claimed that Mingo suspended counting at 8:30 pm because of tiredness. The counting is scheduled to restart today at 9 am.
He criticized the decision of the RO stressing that “urgency which is attached to the conclusion of this exercise.”
“Almost all of the other regions across the country which are affected by various factors such as distance, rough physical terrain and other logistic in respect of transmission of the SOPs have concluded this very exercise,” he complained.
According to Nandlall the RO must be aware of the unnecessary tension which this sloth in official declaration of elections results is causing.
Notably both parties have been signalling their supporters of victory.
In a statement yesterday the APNU+AFC Coalition called on the public to continue to exercise patience as the country awaits the official announcement of the results by the Guyana Elections Commission.
“We also repeat our call for citizens to remain calm and go about their business in an atmosphere of peace and optimism,” the party said before declaring itself confident that it will be returned to government for a second term.
“The Elections Commission is doing a methodical job and has started to release the figures of the polls conducted yesterday. We have every confidence in GECOM in the administration of this election and our internal figures, which we are comparing with the GECOM-delivered results, show an unmistakable trend towards an APNU+AFC victory,” they added.
The PPP/C in turn levelled accusations against the government and released various images and videos on Facebook showing their Presidential Candidate celebrating with supporters.
They have called on the Guyana Police Force to discharge its statutory duty in protecting and preserving official records of the Government of Guyana and all Government and State properties.
Based on results so far (see centre pages) Robert Badal’s Change Guyana has gathered very few votes. Even though there are low totals for ANUG and LJP, the joining of their lists could put them in the position of a highest remainder seat.
