GPSU’s controversial polls...Opposition to pursue legal action against Elections Officer

GPSU’s controversial polls…Opposition to pursue legal action against Elections Officer

May 04, 2017 News

Thousands of Public Servants across the country are confused as to the outcome of the recently contested union elections.
The results released on Tuesday evening put the incumbent Patrick Yarde back at the helm of the Guyana Public Service Union.
His opposition, having not received any word from the Elections Officer, Herman De Souza, is refusing to accept the outcome of the elections.
Contacted yesterday, De Souza declared that, “The results are official.”
The Elections Officer disconnected the phone while the Kaieteur News reporter was in the process of inquiring about the missing Statement Of Polls (SOP).
In addition to this, a number of other discrepancies were highlighted throughout the voting process.
“We issued official letters to Mr. De Souza, in relation to every issue that we had with the elections. And there were quite a few,” Jermaine Hermanstyne, a member of the GPSU’s opposition, told Kaieteur News last evening. He said that in addition to an elections petition, a “personal court matter” will also be filed against De Souza.
“We are not convinced that Mr. De Souza acted in accordance with his job description to ensure that the elections were free and fair,” Hermanstyne opined.
He explained that during yesterday, more and more Public Servants have threatened to withdraw their support from the Union.
“Nobody wants to keep paying dues if they don’t know how their monies are spent. We haven’t had an audit report in about 12 years. It is ridiculous,” the Opposition member said.
While the court system is not particularly known to be swift, Hermanstyne is confident that at least one of the three legal matters would be dealt with in a timely manner.
“Something like this could not have happened during one of Guyana’s General Elections. Not even the Local Government Elections would’ve been announced in a manner like this.”

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