Ignoring the ongoing national recount of the votes cast at the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections, Bruce Golding former Prime Minister of Jamaica Bruce Golding has gone ahead to make pronouncements.
Golding who led the Organisation of American States (OAS) Observer Mission to Guyana for the March 2020 elections, has deemed the declared Region Four results as grossly false. Only eight days into the recount, Golding — a known long-time friend of Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo — claimed that in the recount, 20 Region Four ballot boxes showed a decrease of 1,536 votes for the governing coalition and an increase of 177 for the opposition, when compared to previously declared results.
He put the blame on Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo, accusing him of attempting to deceive the Guyanese nation. “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election. More than a dozen copies of the statements of poll are prepared at each polling station after the ballots are counted on elections night. One copy is posted on the wall outside of the polling stations and each party representative — and there were nine in all — is entitled to receive a copy. You know, it takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present fictitious numbers when such a sturdy paper trail exists and this is being illustrated now as the recount proceeds,” Golding said.
He made such comments on Wednesday during a report on Elections in Guyana made to the OAS Permanent Council. He went on to provide data on specific ballot boxes from the region such as ballot box #4063, which he said the requisite Statement of Poll (SoP) depicts 15 votes for the APNU+AFC and 276 for the PPP/C. He said that Mingo declared 85 votes for the APNU+AFC and 246 for the PPP/C, but the Statement of Recount (SoR) mirrors the SoP.
Although the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) — the only body authorised to conduct general, regional and local government elections in Guyana — has declared the recount to be more than a numerical recount but a “credible recount,” Golding took the PPP/C’s stance in calling for the former.
“The continued reiteration of issues that have already been resolved…and insistence on actions or discussions that do not materially impact the recount of the ballots themselves are creating inordinate delay in the process with some ballot boxes requiring up to five hours to be recounted,” he said.
The PPP/C has been pushing strongly against the APNU+AFC which has objected to a range of matters such as missing poll books, missing Official List of Electors (OLE), missing PE envelopes and unsigned oaths of identity. They have also raised concerns about persons who are either deceased or who have migrated, but were recorded as voting.
Though the opposition, and now Golding, continues to object, the legal, gazetted Order, which paved the way for GECOM to conduct the recount, states:
“AND WHEREAS the Guyana Elections Commission, in exercise of the authority vested in it under Article 162 of the Constitution, and pursuant to Section 22 of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act, No. 15 of 2000, seeks to remove difficulties connected with the application of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03, in implementing its decisions relating to the conduct of the aforementioned recount of all ballots cast at the said elections, including the reconciliation of the ballots issued with the ballots cast, destroyed, spoiled, stamped, and as deemed necessary, their counterfoils/stubs; authenticity of the ballots and the number of voters listed and crossed out as having voted; the number of votes cast without ID cards; the number of proxies issued and the number utilised; statistical anomalies; occurrences recorded in the Poll Book.”
Golding’s perspective on the matter also differs from CARICOM’s which, on the same occasion, noted that the scrutiny being imparted to each ballot is “for the satisfaction of all the contending political parties, and each observer mission.” In addition, for the last few days, the Elections Commission, PPP/C, APNU+AFC and other party agents have reported that the recount process achieved a rhythm whereby one ballots box is no longer taking as much as five hours to be counted.
Such challenges were primarily seen on days one and two of the recount, but the ballot count has since picked up from merely 25 boxes counted on day one to 54 boxes on the highest noted date. Even so, in his address, Golding said that two accredited members of the OAS are in Georgetown and will monitor the recount and thanked the Government of Guyana, GECOM and all involved stakeholders for their willingness to engage in discussions on the issues arising from the elections.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_05_14_2020