In what marks a major shift of its position on the March 2nd general elections, the APNU+AFC coalition yesterday alleged that “clear and unmistakable patterns of irregularities, discrepancies and worse have emerged” following day five of the national recount of votes.
This position enunciated in a press release comes despite the fact that it has repeatedly said that it won the general elections and had expected that the incumbent David Granger would have been sworn in again as President shortly after March 2nd.
As recently as May 4th, Granger in welcoming the recount said that the General and Regional Elections of March 2nd were free, fair and orderly.
APNU+AFC and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) have been buffeted by claims that they are engaged in a process to rig the elections in favour of the incumbent.
The lynchpin of this effort was said to be two fictitious declarations for District Four by its Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo. The start of the national recount on Wednesday – which had once been derailed by an APNU+AFC candidate – now threatens to reveal the real result of the election and observers say this has now forced a shift in strategy. APNU+AFC had been accused of being against the recount which was committed to by GECOM Chair Claudette Singh before the court of Chief Justice Roxane George.
By attacking the credibility of the elections, observers say that the coalition is seeking to delegitimise the end result in the hope of new elections or a deal for shared governance. Neither the main opposition PPP nor any of the other parties that contested the elections have reported any of the claims which were presented yesterday by APNU+AFC from the recount.
Moreover, APNU+AFC had agents stationed at polling stations throughout the country on polling day and never lodged any reports of major irregularities.
In the release last night at the end of the fifth day of the recount with less than 10% of the ballot boxes completed APNU+AFC alleged that unsavoury developments had been uncovered.
It cited “countless” instances of dead persons being recorded as voting exclusively in PPP strongholds. This allegation has amused poll watchers as it suggests that a voter who had voted before was also able to look like the dead person.
The coalition also alleged “countless” instances of persons who have long migrated from Guyana and who were not in Guyana on Election Day being recorded as voting. Observers have questioned how APNU+AFC has been able to establish this. Additionally, it would likely suggested multiple voting by one person for which there are various safeguards.
The coalition further alleged that there were “countless” instances of persons who did not uplift their ID cards from GECOM for many years being recorded as voting in PPP stronghold areas but with no corresponding Oaths of Identity being found in the ballot boxes. It is unclear how these persons would have voted in the presence of APNU+AFC agents.
“Countless” instances of unsigned Oaths of Identity were found in PPP stronghold areas, the coalition also alleged.
Numerous instances of votes for other parties being recorded for the PPP were also claimed to have occurred.
The coalition also said that there were “numerous” instances of missing poll books. GECOM has made no such report of this.
Numerous instances of ballots clearly cast for the APNU+AFC Coalition were also deemed as spoilt, the coalition said.
“What is emerging, even at this early stage, is that there was a systematic effort by the PPP on Election Day to corrupt the electoral process and to fraudulently cause votes to be registered for that party while seeking to disqualify votes for the APNU+AFC Coalition.
“This is an attack on the credibility of the electoral process by a single political party – the PPP – and its agents and co-conspirators”, the coalition added.
The APNU+AFC reaffirmed its commitment to the recount process as it is unmasking the PPP attempts to contaminate the March 2, 2020 elections, the press release said.
APNU+AFC also called on the diplomatic community, particularly the US, UK, Canada and the EU “to begin addressing their minds to revoking the visas of persons from the opposition PPP who are being exposed as the true riggers of the March 2nd election.
This is especially relevant given that in the case where persons who have long migrated from Guyana are listed as having voted, many of these persons live in and are citizens” of those countries.
The western countries have warned of repercussions of an illegal swearing in. Their interventions thus far have been aimed at ensuring that the fictitious District Four declaration was not proceeded with. That declaration would have given the election victory to the incumbent APNU+AFC.
The flawed District Four declaration was put on hold after an injunction was issued against it. The court of Chief Justice George then vitiated it after finding it was not in compliance with the law. A second illicit declaration was made but that was also thwarted by a decision for a recount of the votes which finally got underway last Wednesday, 65 days after the general elections.
