General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday called for the Declaration of Results from District Four to be discarded since its contents have been “discredited”.
“[Clairmont] Mingo’s declaration can no longer be held in abeyance,” Jagdeo argued during a virtual press conference.
He contended that after a recount of about 15% of ballot boxes, the Statement of Polls (SOPs) in the possession of his party match the Statement of Recounts (SORs) generated from the National Recount. Specifically he maintained that the SOPs from Region Four which his party made public in March match the SORs generated with “small adjustments”.
Mingo declarations he therefore argued have been discredited and therefore can “form absolutely no basis for a future report of any Chief Election Officer or for any declaration of results.”
“In just eight days with less than 100 boxes recounted in Region Four a pattern has been established that Mingo’s declarations is false. It cannot be the basis for declaring the results of the elections,” Jagdeo said.
Jagdeo’s statement mirrors those of the Head of the OAS observer mission to Guyana’s March 2nd elections, Bruce Golding.
While delivering a report on Wednesday on the preliminary findings of the mission to the Organisation of American States’ (OAS) Permanent Council, Golding said the ongoing recount process has exposed glaring instances where the figures presented by Returning Officer of Region Four, Mingo are concerned.
“I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election,” Golding said as he put aside his prepared statement to give a few instances accompanied with ballot box numbers to support his statement concerning the altering of the elections results.
Golding disclosed that for ballot box #4062, the statement of poll (SoP) had indicated 182 votes for APNU+AFC and 43 votes for the PPP/C. The Returning Officer’s impugned spreadsheet reported those results as 292 votes for APNU+AFC and 33 votes for the PPP/C. However, when the box was recounted this week, the numbers in the Statement of Recount (SoR) were 182 for APNU+AFC and 43 for PPP, “the exact figures that appeared on the statement of poll.”
He went on to present numbers for three other boxes which displayed a similar trend.
The incumbent APNU+AFC coalition has however argued that this is not the case.
Speaking to the media outside the Arthur Chung Conference Center AFC Executive member David Patterson maintained that the Statements of Recounts which have been generated not only match the numbers presented by RO Mingo but also match the Statements of Poll in possession of his party.
Asked if or when his party would be likely to present these SOPs for public scrutiny Patterson responded that “the Statement of Recount matters now.”
“We want a winner to be determined. This exercise is not a question of comparison, it is about determining a winner and a next government,” he explained.
