GECOM Chair says yes to votes from 29 challenged ballot boxes
-stage set for deliberations on certification
A deciding vote by GECOM Chair Claudette Singh yesterday saw the inclusion of votes from 29 ballot boxes that had been under question, virtually sealing an election victory for the PPP/C and setting the stage for certification of the final result.
As the curtains on the recount process for the March 2nd General and Regional Elections yesterday closed with the PPP/C with an insurmountable lead, the party assured supporters of the governing APNU+AFC that they had nothing to fear from its leadership as they will be a bastion of inclusivity.
The PPP/C and smaller contesting parties thanked GECOM for a credible recount process and said that they look forward to the completion of tabulation and a swift declaration of the winner.
“I can say tonight we have no interest, whatsoever, in victimizing anyone. People don’t have to worry for their jobs, they don’t have to worry about their healthcare, their education…an APNU child will be treated just as well as a PPP/C in a family,” General Secretary of the PPP, former President Bharrat Jagdeo last evening told reporters, as he emerged from the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the venue of the recount, which lasted for 33 days.
While tabulation of recounted votes from 14 ballot boxes for the general elections will be concluded this morning, the recount showed APNU behind the PPP/C by 13,069 votes with the PPP gaining a total of 230,328 votes compared to the incumbent’s 217,257 votes of the 456,628 valid votes up to that point.
After the tabulation today the CARICOM
observer team will submit a report to the Secretariat here but it is unclear how soon that will be and if they will stay until a declaration is made. Their report is seen as key in the validation process.
The total figures were adjusted yesterday following a meeting by GECOM, during the morning hours, to include the votes cast from some 29 boxes from the East Coast of Demerara, Region 4, that weren’t accompanied by statutory documents but which were already tabulated and accounted for.
Objecting to the inclusion of results from 29 boxes from the Vryheid’s Lust to Chateau Margot area was the APNU+AFC since they claimed that several “statutorily required documents” were missing from them. These accounted for over 5,000 votes, with the majority of them being cast in favour of the PPP/C.
It had been found that several of the boxes contain only ballots cast. Missing are the Official List of Electors for each polling station, the folio of registered electors, counterfoils for used and unused ballots, used ballot box seals and poll books among others.
But there have been conflicting reports about why the boxes did not have the documents with at least two GECOM workers publicly claiming that they were instructed to not include the documents. Deputy Returning Officer (DRO), Paul Jaisingh admitted that he gave the instructions to include only ballots; unused, valid and rejected ones. He wrote to GECOM explaining that it was because he had been instructed by the secretary of his superior and District Four Returning Officer Claimont Mingo that some documents be omitted and placed in a bag and given to GECOM.
“Dear Madam Chair, Please be informed that instructions were given by Miss. Carlyn Duncan (Clerk to the Returning Officer Mr.Clairmont MingoDistrict # 4) to include only unused, valid and rejected ballots in the ballot boxes. This was communicated to the respective Presiding Officers (POs) who complied. As a result the other documents were placed in the bag provided. This instruction was given on Election Day a few hours before the close of the poll. Other
Deputy Returning Officers affected by this decision can confirm the same,” Jaisingh said.
GECOM refuted Jaisingh’s assertions saying that it had received signed correspondence from a “number of DROs” that they did not give any such instructions.
In a statement on Saturday, GECOM Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward stated that the DROs said in their statement that they were advised to “make regular checks to all stations ensuring that there was a smooth flow” and “to remind POs to ensure all statutory documents were in the ballot boxes.”
However, when asked to produce the signed document, Ward said she would “seek permission” to make this information available, but up to press time yesterday, she had not answered requests for an update.
An East Coast Demerara Presiding Officer, who goes by the Facebook name of Wendy Ann, went public in her posts saying she was angry after learning of GECOM’s purported letter from the DROs.
“Now it may seem as though I as a Presiding Officer lied when I said we were instructed by our DRO to not put the documents in the box... But I’ll ask one (1), just one (1) question - “If ALL the POs under a particular DRO omitted documents, is that a mere coincidence?” You’d expect the most two (2) POs to make the same mistake, but ALL??? These boxes were sealed in the presence of these DROs, yet, nobody can give account for the missing documents?? And now, the DROs released this joint statement saying they never instructed the POs to omit those documents?? I’ll leave that one for the smart people to figure out. Let’s hope they publish the names of these DROs and the joint statement they made,” she said.
Deciding vote
It was GECOM’s Chairperson Singh who in the end gave the deciding vote to allow for a 4-3 majority decision for the ballots to be tabulated, according to commissioners from both sides.
The Commission gave confirmation of the decision while adding that there will still be an investigation.
“The Commission has decided to include the SoRs for the ballot boxes with missing documents in the tabulation exercise. It was noted that the Commission does not intend to disenfranchise any elector. However, the Commission will continue to investigate the matter,” Ward told the press via a Whatsapp message.
“Today it was a majority decision; the three PPP and the Chairperson. She [Chairperson Singh] was saying it would disenfranchise voters to not include it. My position was we shouldn’t but we have to find a solution other than inclusion, to
having mysterious votes counted, but they never entertained my position,” GECOM government-appointed Commissioner Vincent Alexander said.
A New and United Guyana (ANUG) executive Timothy Jonas told this newspaper that he was pleased that the Chairperson made the decision.
“People voted at those places and their ballots were put in a box and those ballots needed to be counted. The fact that some counter foil or some polling list is not there should not disenfranchise them. Those same boxes were counted for the original declaration that Mr. Mingo falsely declared. Why are you saying now that we must not count those boxes? Now suddenly don’t count them? That is ridiculous,” Jonas said.
He said that he, too, has seen Returning Officers claim that they were instructed to “don’t put them in a box put them in a bag” and said what is clear is that the boxes were sealed and not tampered with. “I think GECOM made the right decision,” he said, while underscoring that the recount process was transparent and lauding the works of all the persons that made it possible.
Guyana’s Private Sector Commission (PSC) also weighed in on the issue as it said that voters should not be punished for the procedural errors of election-day staff.
“Every single box in every single region was accounted for and a statement of recount was done. We are walking out here with a high sense of satisfaction that our elections were free and fair. We really expect that all the work that went in will be realized and we really expect GECOM to respect the credible results and declare the results, so that we can have a legitimate government in Guyana,” PSC Chairman Gerry Gouveia told this newspaper as he exited the ACCC.
“You cannot disenfranchise those persons who cast their ballots because of procedural errors. In addition to that, in other regions we have had similar situations where the documents were not in the box but the votes are still valid. The key to a valid vote is having the six-digit mark of the polling station, having the security features and not having any sort of mistakes where multiple parties are marked for the person having identified themselves on the ballot. We saw a process that Guyanese can be proud of and are anticipating a result that is very strong; in other words it was transparent,” Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who was at the time with Gouveia, added. The PPP said that it too anticipates a speedy declaration and hopes that the incumbent will put the nation’s interest first as Jagdeo lamented that since March 3rd the APNU+AFC “on a daily basis, is showing that its leaders are incapable of putting national interest and national consideration first, primary.”
Asked if he believed that APNU+AFC will move to the courts to prolong a declaration, he said, “They will try to alter the will of the people. They’re testing people’s patience. Not just in Guyana but I think the international community too has been pushed to the limit. They’ve been very generous in urging all parties to work together but I think most of them know that who the transgressors are.”
“So going to court will just delay the inevitable because I don’t see which court, the courts are indigenous. The judges organically live in our society and so they understand the dynamics and any sane person, a judge, would look at all that has gone through, see the recount see the results of the recount and then try and give APNU some injunction of the sort to block the declaration . I can’t see any objective judge doing that sort of thing and if they do it will easily be overturned by a higher court…we will fight tooth and nail, all the way for democracy,” he added.