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Coalition refuses to call elections ‘not credible’ – despite detailed claims of ‘flaws’ in the process
APNU+AFC floor supervisor, Leonard Craig yesterday stated that the Coalition is not going to label the election as “not credible”, despite “countless ‘anomalies’ and ‘discrepancies” which they claim to have observed on election day over two months ago.
Agent of APNU + AFC, Leonard Craig
When questioned about why his party was heavily advocating for the incumbent President Granger to be sworn in for a second term, despite these anomalies the APNU+ AFC witnessed, Craig responded, “We are not saying that it was not credible. Another reason for raising these things is that even if they do not impact the overall results of the elections, it provides both lawmakers and GECOM evidence of what are possible infractions on Election Day and we can go to parliament and change some of those laws and GECOM can adjust its administrative procedures on that day.”
Craig went on to say, “Even though you raise anomalies on Election Day, you allow GECOM to make a declaration and then you go to an election petition. First time in the history of Guyana, you have an election being disrupted by all these processes.”
Meanwhile opposition-nominated Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, who also spoke to the press, was keen to highlight that the Coalition had not brought forth any evidence of these claims.
Opposition- nominated Commissioner, Sase Gunraj
Gunraj stated that, “I ought not to walk into a polling station and claim that someone has died and that becomes the fact without challenge. In our discussions with the Commission, we decided that these statements must be considered as an allegation. I don’t even think that they have a place now… Doing that denigrates the process that they (the coalition) heralded as being free, fair, credible and transparent on March 2.”
On Sunday evening, APNU+AFC released a statement to the press in which they stated that they were seeing a “clear emerging pattern of PPP contamination of the March 2 Elections.” In that statement, it claimed that it had uncovered “patterns of irregularities” such as “countless” instances of dead persons being recorded as voting exclusively in PPP strongholds; instances of persons who have migrated from Guyana and who were not in Guyana on Election Day being recorded as voting; situations where persons who did not uplift their ID cards from GECOM for many years and being recorded as voting in PPP stronghold areas but with no corresponding Oaths of Identity being found in the ballot boxes; instances of unsigned Oaths of Identity in PPP stronghold areas; instances of votes for other parties being recorded for the PPP; missing poll books and occasions of ballots casted for the APNU+AFC Coalition deemed as spoilt.
The Coalition, in the statement, called on the diplomatic community, particularly the United States, Canada, European Union and Britain to revoke the visas of persons involved in what it claimed to be attempted electoral fraud. It should be noted that the Coalition had also written to the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Ret’d Justice Claudette Singh, to address what they termed as issues regarding the credibility of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
However, instead of meeting with the party, the GECOM Chair has asked them to submit a list of their concerns. According to GECOM Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, those concerns will be addressed at a later Commission meeting and the response conveyed to the Coalition. She noted that if the party is not satisfied with the response they received from the Chair, she would make time and engage them in a meeting.
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