Verification of Statements of Poll (SoPs) for Region Four was on hold last night after some staff said they were exhausted, compounding hours of delay earlier in the day when a questionable spreadsheet of results triggered a major controversy and an emergency GECOM meeting.
After that controversy was resolved, a staffing issue arose last night which suspended the verification of SoPs vital to the final declaration of results in Monday’s general and regional elections. The suspension at around 9 pm came despite pleas from the PPP for the process to continue through the night.
The verification of SoPs from polling stations across Region Four was delayed earlier yesterday after a controversy erupted over the utilisation of a spreadsheet with numbers which did not correspond with the numbers on copies of SoPs of observers and agents of political parties. The appearance of the spreadsheet sounded alarm bells that mischief might be afoot.