The incumbent A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition is “generally satisfied” with the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE) and has denied involvement in any type of fraud related to the tabulation of votes in Electoral District Four.
“We have clean hands in this matter and we challenge anyone to prove we have been involved in anything other than running a very efficient campaign,” APNU+AFC Campaign Co-chair Joseph Harmon said in response to questions at a press conference yesterday.
Harmon, along with fellow Campaign Co-chair Raphael Trotman, stressed the “statutory responsibility” of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and maintained that it was not the duty of the party to interfere in the exercise of that function.
On Friday, Returning Officer (RO) for Region Four Clairmont Mingo, declared results for the voting district after a process roundly rejected by other contesting parties and observers.
Following prolonged drama that included walkouts, protests and even a scuffle, Mingo declared that the APNU+AFC had won the region with 136,057 votes, compared to 77,231 for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), a margin of 58,826. This margin is large enough to close the nearly 52,000 vote gap the PPP/C had recorded after the completed count of the other nine regions.
Such a margin would mean that the APNU+AFC has won the March 2 polls if the results are certified.
“I am satisfied with the declaration made by the RO and countersigned by the counting agents as the final declaration,” Harmon said in response to questions from Stabroek News yesterday.
This statement stands in stark contrast to the position held by various persons who were present at the count. According to those party agents and observers, the numbers announced from the Statements of Polls (SOPs) presented by Mingo were clearly altered.
“It is a travesty…when you look, APNU numbers are clearly inflated…in some cases, twos have become threes and zeros have become eights,” Presidential Candidate of the Liberty and Justice Party Lenox Shuman told reporters outside the GECOM headquarters on Friday.
Opposition-nominated elections commissioner Sase Gunraj, in a Facebook post after the declaration, also contended that the SOPs were tampered with.
“There were visible alterations…figures changed, numbers scratched out and replaced,” he said.
Asked about these observations, Harmon, who is also Chief Party Agent, said that no such complaint was received from the counting agent who represented the coalition at the tabulation.
Notably, Dominic Gaskin, former Minister of Business and current executive member of the AFC, has also voiced concerns about the declared results.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Gaskin said he was not “sufficiently convinced” that the polling results purportedly declared by the RO accurately reflected the SOPs from the 879 polling stations.
Asked to comment on Gaskin’s statement, Trotman said he was free to have an opinion.
“But that is his personal opinion, not the position of the party,” he added.
Asked to account for differences observed between Friday’s declarations and that made on March 5, by Mingo, Harmon and Trotman declined.
“I don’t have to account for the difference,” Harmon said.
According to the new declaration, the votes cast for each party has changed over the last week at both the regional and general elections.
At the regional level, APNU+AFC has recorded 6,046 votes less and at the general level, two less. The PPP/C has recorded 2,381 less at the regional level and 98 less at the general level. Each of the other parties have seen their votes either increase or decrease, with the largest increase, 18 votes, recorded by the People’s Republic Party at the regional elections.
The coalition appeared unconcerned about the variations in votes cast.
Asked about the statement by western diplomats that a government appointed on the basis of these disputed results is likely to find itself isolated and facing sanctions, both Harmon and Trotman said they were concerned.
“Any country must be concerned not just with sanctions but with threats of sanctions,” Harmon noted. He added that after the elections are completed, Guyana would have to work assiduously to pull back opinions that government has a role in any illegalities whatsoever.
