The coalition is trying to force and annulment of the elections

May 29, 2020 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The Coalition has tried every possible trick in their Rigging Book and has attempted new ones as well. They tried their utmost to nullify the successful No Confidence Motion, they had problems with the official List of Electors which Granger claimed was bloated and which could have been revived using the claims and objections, they attempted to stall the impending elections by foisting the house-to-house registration which the Court later aborted, they fiddled with the claims and objections period, they reduced polling places in the PPP strongholds to disenfranchise voters, they messed up the voters list with their ‘merging’ and the list appears to be endless. They openly flouted the Constitution and Courts’ rulings under the pretext that they respected these.
One would have thought that the above scenario would change after the elections on March 2nd, but in fact it got far worse. After more Court action to get the recount off the ground resulting from Mingo’s willful and fraudulent manipulation of the Region 4 Statements of Poll, the Coalition is now hell bent on a course of action to abort the entire 2020 Elections which they now claimed lacked credibility. This is in direct contrast to what Granger and his cabal had claimed after March 2nd. What is amazing is that now that the recount has unearthed the massive fraud perpetrated by Mingo on behalf of the Coalition, they are now claiming that the dead voted, those migrated before the date of the election voted, etc. It must be recalled that Mingo submitted two declarations and Granger was supposed to be sworn in on a few occasions. Now we can expect Basil Williams to be preparing for another frivolous court action.
However, Harmon’s comical and farcical statement beats all. Harmon’s claim that more than 86,000 voters who voted in the 2020 Elections ‘lacked credibility’ is by itself an incredulous statement which lacked credibility. The so-called evidences he put forward make him a mocking stock, which has now propelled him into the category of his associate, Williams. Williams had earlier claimed that the current recount is illegal despite being sanctioned by his Party and the Courts. It must be recalled that the Coalition had claimed based on Mingo’s fraudulent declaration that they had won the elections by a slim margin therefore if Harmon’s conclusion is correct then the Coalition should have lost the Elections by more than 86,000 votes. Therefore, it would seem that the ‘rigger’ rigged on behalf of the Coalition.
However, in a feeble attempt to support the Coalition’s nonsensical claims of ‘electoral fraud’, one columnist claimed that there is flip side to the Carter Center statement that,
“Even if pre-election and election day processes go well, a flawed vote count or vote tabulation can fatally undermine the integrity and credibility of the electoral process and decrease public confidence and public acceptance of the results”. That flip side can read, ‘Even if election day processes and the vote count or tabulation go well, a flawed pre-elections process can fatally undermine the integrity and credibility and electoral process and decrease public confidence and public acceptance of the results’. The columnist should recall that the Coalition accepted the results of the 2018 Local Government Elections and the Official List of Electors which was used had a life until April 2019. The List had no problem then but the Coalition used the excuse of a ‘bloated list by about 200,000 names to embark on delaying the impending elections and remain illegally in office. They used GECOM’s illegal Chairman [Retired Justice James Patterson] and the Chief Elections Officer to foist the house-to-house registration on this nation when the List could have been revised by an extended claims and objections period. However, even though the HtH was finally aborted it had already captured in excess of 370,000 names and it was finally revealed that 37,300 were ‘new registrants’. Of these, 17,000 were already on the voters list and some even voted in the past. The entire venture was indeed an effort to buy time and produced a lot of duplications.
It must be recalled that the Coalition Commissioners of GECOM were against field verification of 20,556 names since they knew that the list was ‘not bloated’ as was claimed. Commissioner Alexander was also adamant that ‘duplications’ cannot result in fraud. Then there was the claims and objections period which saw the Coalition attempting to disenfranchise many legitimate voters in PPP support base but which was finally resolved. It must be recalled that at every turn it was the PPP/C which called for measures to ensure that List was credible and free from errors. It must also be recalled that the PPP/C scrutineers were not part of the HtH registration process, only those of the APNU/AFC accompanied the GECOM staff. So how could the PPP/C have rigged the List?
The columnist should also be aware that, ‘an objective effort’ was indeed ‘made to fix the problem before elections’ and furthermore, there is no evidence to support the ‘possibility of fraudulent use of the bloated list’, if indeed the list was bloated. On the contrary there is ample evidence to support the fact that the claims made by the Coalition that the ‘dead’ and ‘migrants’ voted are complete fabrications meant to annul the Elections. There are no ‘irregularities’ which are material enough to annul the Elections and that is the reason why the Carter Center is not wanted by the Coalition to observe the Recount process. The Coalition with the assistance of GECOM feels that they could force an annulment which may be supported by the CARICOM observers.
Moreover, the List was kosher to the Coalition up to when Mingo made his fraudulent declaration. I am wondering why the columnist failed to bring this evidence in his analysis if indeed he is being objective. In addition, why has he not called on GECOM to cast the fraudulent declarations aside rather than holding them in ‘abeyance’. In addition, it will be a miraculous act for the PPP/C to rig the List when GECOM is controlled by the Coalition. Did Lowenfield, Myers and Claudette Singh allow this to happen? It is a fact also that many who are employed by GECOM are supporters of the Coalition.
Indeed the Carter Center cannot prevent elections from being ‘manipulated’ but they can report that the Recount process was credible and that the ‘claims and objections’ now raised by the Coalition are frivolous and immaterial to the outcome. It must be recalled that they did report that Mingo’s declarations were illegal since it did not follow the legally prescribed tabulation process.
In conclusion, no amount of whitewashing will erase that fact that the Coalition tried many blatant and shameful acts not only to illegally hold on to power but to barefacedly rig the 2020 Elections.
Yours trult,
Haseef Yusuf

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