With a recount of the votes from the March 2nd general elections approaching the end and the PPP/C maintaining a significant lead (see other story on page 3), the incumbent APNU+AFC last night made its strongest signal yet that it was preparing to reject the final result after making a series of claims that have been widely repulsed.
Despite President David Granger having said repeatedly that he will accept the declaration of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, the coalition seems to be going in a different direction despite having declared victory in March just days after the elections.
“The APNU+AFC has been exposing evidence of electoral fraud perpetrated on this country by the PPP/C. We will continue to do so during this recount exercise. The APNU+AFC wishes to make it clear that President Granger and the Leader of the opposition agreed to a recount, the aim of which was to ensure that the results of this election can be deemed credible.
“The recount process has revealed that the election of March 2, 2020 was riddled with fraudulent practices; the dead voted, people out of the jurisdiction voted, many unstamped ballots, missing certificates of employment, missing poll books, ballots cast over and above the number on the OLE (Official List of Electors) and other fraudulent practices.
“Any results emanating from this process cannot be considered credible because of the high incidence of fraud”, the coalition thundered last night.
The various claims made by APNU+AFC have been rejected as nonsensical and farcical. It has stopped repeating one of those which was that the ballots of the Disciplined Services were deliberately not stamped at polling stations and therefore were not counted. This claim has been debunked as the disciplined services ballots are indistinguishable from others and not many ballots have been found without stamps.
Political parties and others have said that if the incumbent is declared to have lost the election it will have to take up its complaints via an election petition.
Meanwhile, more persons have come forward to dismiss claims made by the APNU+AFC about irregularities at the March 2 general elections.
Those who have presented themselves dismissed claims that they were out of the country and insisted it was they who voted on Election Day.
During the recount process, the coalition party has raised objections and questioned the credibility of the recently concluded elections. In the process they have made claims that hundreds of persons who were not in Guyana on March 2 are recorded as having cast ballots.
In the observation report, recount staff at the Guyana Elections Commission noted multiple objections by APNU+AFC agents of persons being dead or being out of the country on elections day.
Yesterday, a resident of Covent Garden, Dorothy Thelma Surajpaul told Stabroek News that she did not leave the country since 2018. She explained that her husband while reading the Kaieteur News, discovered her name on the list of persons reported to have been out of the jurisdiction on March 2.
“I didn’t go anywhere. My visa expired and I got a new one but I didn’t go anywhere since 2018. I even registered during the house to house registration,” Surajpaul asserted.
She said that she voted at the Covent Garden Primary School at ballot station 412211 A.
Another woman, Sursattie Ramnarie of Lot 70 Philadelphia, East Bank Essequibo, in a fifteen-second video said she did not leave the country and was present to vote on March 2. She also released to the public an “affidavit of existence and presence”.
Meanwhile, four other persons from the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE) and one from the West Coast of Demerara also released their affidavits of existence and presence to the public.
Anna Persaud of 2408 Block 8 New Housing Scheme, Tuschen, EBE; Shafeek Anand Kumar of 367 Zeelugt Housing Scheme, EBE; Ameer Sheik Mohamed of 892 New Housing Scheme Tuschen EBE; along with Akash Ramoutar of 535 Block 8 New Housing Scheme Tuschen, EBE; and Roberto Narine of 73 Second Street Railway View Meten-Meer-Zorg WCD; all declared that they were all present in Guyana on March 2 and voted.
The declarations were made in accordance with the Statutory Declarations Act. They made the declarations following the publication of a list sent to Chairperson of the GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.
The information was submitted at the request of Singh who in a letter to the Police Commissioner, dated May 22, stated that “The APNU/AFC is alleging that persons whose names and dates of birth appear on the list attached had migrated and could not have exercised their franchise on March 2, 2020.”
Further, at the counting station, regarding box 4516 which was placed at the polling station at the National Aquatic Centre in Liliendaal on March 2, an agent of the APNU+AFC objected to the serial number 183 as being out of the country and so did not vote. Checks were made and it was discovered that the serial number belonged to retired Assistant Superintendent of Police Salena Marshall.
Chairman of a New and United Guyana, Timothy Jonas, yesterday said that the claims being made by the incumbent should be examined in the courts and not by GECOM.
He stated that these claims will have to be cross-examined and GECOM does not have the prerogative to handle such claims. On this note, Jonas said he believes that the claims are better suited for an elections petition.
“The information can only be explored in a court… GECOM can’t use this information to override its own records. GECOM’s record now demonstrates that all persons crossed off as voted were present in Guyana on elections day,” Jonas argued while speaking with reporters outside of the Arthur Chung Convention Centre yesterday.
He added that the elections commission has a strict method for screening and the process was observed on elections day.
“GECOM had on elections day a very strict method of screening for anybody who came to vote. All the party representatives all the GECOM Staff and agents check the list, look at your ID [Identification Card] and you are allowed to vote, so GECOM own record, means that this process went through and voted. GECOM can’t look behind that, they can’t go outside and get evidence to try to disprove what their own record generated by their own system has provided,” ANUG Chairman said as he made reference to Singh’s letter to the Chief Immigration Officer and Commissioner of Police Leslie James.
Jonas argued further that the claims made by APNU+AFC are baseless and “rubbish” as the system does not allow for fraud.
“…it is a good system, our system is so good that when the corrupt individual within the system tries to undermine he was caught immediately that’s how good the system is.so when you talk about a flawed system our system isn’t flawed but there were individuals within the system who tried to undermine it but demonstrated how good the system was because they were caught red handed,” he pointed out.
Further he underscored that, the APNU+AFC have designed the system of raising objections to “frustrate” the recounting process.
“We are at a stage where all the other regions are being counted and only region four from Georgetown to the East Coast Demerara are left to be counted, when we check our own records these are the contentious areas… ANUG is keeping a close eye because it is now getting hot,” he said.
He added that they will be following the recount using the Statements of Poll they gathered from elections and should they unearth any difference in numbers from the recount they will immediately bring it to the attention to the supervisor.
