…Coalition says several other steps required before declaration
THE recount process has uncovered evidence of massive electoral fraud affecting over 84,000 votes, the ruling APNU+AFC coalition said on Sunday as GECOM wrapped the month-long recounting of votes for the March 2, 2020 elections.
“Tabulation is not Validation: once only valid votes are counted the coalition will win these elections,” APNU General-Secretary Joseph Harmon said. In a statement, the coalition added that “what was uncovered throughout the recount process and magnified on Thursday June 4th, Friday June 5th, Saturday June 6th and Sunday June 7th, nakedly exposed the smoking gun of the obscene People’s Progressive Party illegality on the East Coast of Demerara which is ‘the nest’ in perpetuating [sic] fraud on the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.”
According to the coalition, numerous sealed ballots boxes, exclusively in PPP stronghold areas, when opened, were missing all relevant documents legally required to legitimise the process. “The pattern is clear – where the APNU+AFC won, the documents are in the boxes, but where the PPP “won,” the documents are missing.”
The party said the votes which cannot be validated on the lower East Coast of Demerara alone, amount to tens of thousands. These votes are bogus, fraudulent and cannot withstand scrutiny. There is no option but for GECOM to reject all ballots, in all 10 districts, that cannot be validated.
“What was uncovered in the ballot boxes from polling places on the lower East Coast Demerara was obscene and provides unequivocal and incontrovertible evidence that massive and systematic electoral fraud was unleashed on March 2nd. Not only were the March 2nd elections tainted, but we now know, with certainty, that electoral fraud was committed in an effort to subvert the will of the Guyanese people. The perpetrators have committed a wilful, egregious and heinous act against democratic values of Guyana,” the coalition said.
The coalition said that as a result of these revelations and exposures, there can only be one legitimate conclusion following the recount process. “We now await to hear from the right-thinking people of Guyana and GECOM in that regard. GECOM is put on notice that it cannot use illegal and fraudulent votes to produce a valid and acceptable result. Fraud cannot produce credibility.”
Four-stage process
President David Granger on Saturday, while reminding the nation that the national recount was widely supported by the government and opposition, said an acceptable outcome is expected based on four sequential stages. It was outlined that the ‘recount’ of ballots – the first stage – follows the decision of the elections commission, on April 3, 2020, that it would recount all ballots cast in the elections. The national recount commenced on May 6, 2020.
The second stage of the process, the President posited, will see the compilation of a report of the recount by the chief elections officer, and it is within that report that the irregularities, in addition to the tabulated votes, will be detailed.
“The chief elections officer (CEO), in the circumstances, is obliged to present a matrix of the poll results of each electoral district together with a summary of the ‘Observation Reports’ of each electoral district to the election commission,” President Granger detailed. Given the exceptional interest of the CARICOM Heads of Government and the leading role of the CARICOM scrutinising team, it is the President’s hope that their ‘report’ will be sent to the elections commission and receive the fullest consideration.
The ‘review’ of the report by the elections commissioners – the third stage of the process – will follow,” the President further detailed, while noting that the elections commissioners will be expected to take into consideration all the evidence provided in the CEO’s ‘report’, both from the tabulation and observation, in their deliberations.
It is expected, also, that the elections commission will examine the CARICOM report at this stage. The ‘result’ of the General and Regional Elections – the fourth and final stage of the process – will be declared by the Chairman of the Elections Commission after she has studied the report of the chief elections officer and the Observation Reports, the President summarised. Iterating a long-held position, President Granger said he will accept the results of the elections as declared by GECOM.
“…I shall accept the declaration of the results by the elections commission, which will allow for a democratically elected government to be sworn in to office. I am committed to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. I respect the integrity and autonomous nature of the elections commission. I will abide by the declarations of the elections commission as I have abided by the rulings of the court,” the Head of State told the nation.
With the recount near completion, the President called on Guyanese to await the completion of the four stages – the current recount, the reports of the chief elections officer and the CARICOM observers, the review by the elections commission and the declaration of the final results by chairperson of the commission. It was President Granger who in 2019 met with the Chair of GECOM, the elections commissioners and the leader of the opposition, and offered a commitment to ensure that the General and Regional Elections would be free and credible.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_06_08_2020