The incumbent APNU+ AFC coalition yesterday both challenged the legality of the ongoing national recount of votes from the March 2 elections and also committed to abiding by its results.
Speaking with media outside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) at Liliendaal, Attorney General Basil Williams argued that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) does not have the power to render the declarations made by the 10 Returning Officers, including Region Four’s Clairmont Mingo, illegitimate.
“All 10 declarations are valid and subsisting and under our law, the only way they could be rendered nugatory is by a decision of an election petition and so it comes to the other status, question and purpose of the national recount,” Williams said, while arguing that the elections have been substantially completed.
He noted Section 22 of the Elections Amendment Act grants the Commission the right to resolve ”prospective” problem not act retrospectively to reverse concluded decisions made.
He cited the “completed 10 declarations that have been submitted” to the Chief Election Officer as one such concluded decision.
Williams’ position is in direct contrast to statements made by government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander, who has told reporters that the Commission will not return to the 10 declarations. “In my considered opinion, all things being equal I don’t see us doing that. All things being equal it should be automatic [that the recount is used],” Alexander said last Thursday.
‘We wanted this’
However, approximately two hours after Williams’ pronouncement, coalition candidate Amna Ally emerged from a meeting with the Commission and told reporters that her party is prepared to accept the results of the recount as the result of the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
“Whomever the Commission declares so be it. That’s the party. Why would we object to it? We signed on. We wanted this,” Ally told reporters.
Presented with Williams’ position, a clearly surprised Ally called on fellow APNU+AFC candidate Roysdale Forde to address the matter.
Forde went on to explain how the coalition could hold both positions.
“As an attorney-at-law, I share the view of Mr. Basil Williams….Whether it is legal or not, we are entitled, first as lawyers, second as a party, to take a position contrary to that. Nevertheless, also we are entitled to participate in the process and to make meaningful contributions to the process at each step of the way,” he said, while stressing that the opinion expressed by Williams, which he supports, is a personal position.
“Though important, they [opinions on recount] are not really relevant right now. The fact is a recount is taking place,” he stressed, before adding that the party can only make a decision on whether or not it will file an elections petition after the process has ended.
His position appears to be that the party can participate in a process it believes to be illegal while reserving the right to file an elections petition if it is dissatisfied with the outcome.
Forde went on to argue that the anomalies discovered by the coalition “demonstrate electoral fraud”.
“Our party has been able to present numerous instances of the dead voting; numerous instances of overseas and migrant persons voting,” he stressed, before adding that the onus to prevent these occurrences did not rest with the coalition’s agents but with the Presiding Officer of each station.
Forde further indicated that objections to these situations were reported and would’ve been recorded in the polling books several of which remain missing.
Ally in turn stressed that APNU+AFC had more death certificates to present throughout the recount. “We have substantiating evidence, most of which have been produced by the counting agents at workstations,” she stressed, while adding that the Commission is also able to access the public records necessary.
Asked how many of these certificates were presented to the Commission, Ally indicated that she could not say. She also would not commit to share this “evidence” with media.
Meanwhile, opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj told reporters that it was simply not true that the coalition has provided evidence to support its claim.
Gunraj also indicated that there was no way to say with absolute certainty whether a particular elector had cast a ballot.
Describing the meeting as a public relations stunt, he stressed that not a single document has been brought to the seven-member Commission to support any allegation
‘I am here every day and I move from workstation to workstation,” the Commissioner stressed.
He further indicated that from his position a “missing poll book” is not a big issue.
Gunraj noted that the explanation provided to the Commission by the Chief Election Officer (CEO) is that the “poll book” has in many cases been placed among the non-sensitive material which was not sealed in the Ballot Box.
These, he maintained, are anomalies that do not affect the outcome of the process.
He then went on to criticise the APNU+AFC for accusing polling day staff of fraud.
“Every single anomaly they have noted they seem to blame the staff,” he said explaining that one issue blamed on staff was some ballots not being properly stamped when it was widely reported that the stamps were faulty.
Gunraj maintained that in the absence of evidence, he could not support any investigation on the part of the Commission.
A similar position was presented by government-nominated commissioners Desmond Trotman, who told reporters that though he has not seen any of the evidence he believes a few death certificates had been submitted. He explained that if evidence of anomalies were brought to the Commission, it would be duty-bound to investigate. “It is part of the process and if it is that you are speaking about credibility and you want to ascertain that the elections were credible, if you have information that something occurred that shouldn’t have taken place, you have to look at it… there is going to be a summation of all the anomalies that were put forward and those of merit will be looked at,” he maintained.
Three-card trick
Meanwhile the two seemingly contradictory positions of the coalition were heavily criticised by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
According to Nandlall, the members of the coalition appear to be speaking without consulting each other since their stories rather than matching are colliding violently with flagrant and blatant inconsistencies.
He stressed that Williams’ claim that the law does not provide for a recount is inaccurate.
“The law is very clear. It provides for a final count, it provides for a recount, a recount of that recount and a recount of that recount the law provides for about 15 recounts,” he stressed.
Nandlall argued that the Attorney General is confused by the terminology of a “National Recount”. He explained that the term “National” is being used only because every Region is being recounted.
“Not only the law he has problem with he has problem with the English lingo,” he scoffed accusing the incumbent of holding three positions in the hope that one works.
The three positions he claimed are: that the elections and current declarations are legal, that the recount process is illegal and just in case they lose following the recount that the elections were not credible. “Is a three-card trick…nobody buying into that story,” he stressed.
