Region 4 recount certified - Coalition refuses to sign on

Region 4 recount certified – Coalition refuses to sign on

Jun 10, 2020 News

By Mikaila Prince

Contesting parties, except for the governing coalition- A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), yesterday signed on to the certification of the recount results for Region Four. Region Four, the most crucial district, has been marred with controversy following the General and Regional Elections of March 2, 2020.
A New United Guyana (ANUG), Change Guyana (CG), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), People’s Republic Party (PRP), The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), The New Movement (TNM) as well as the United Republican Party (URP), all signed onto the certification of the recount.

LJP Presidential Candidate, Lenox Shuman holding up a signed copy of the Reg. 4 certificate

Applauses were heard and there were bittersweet reactions from stakeholders to this development which followed a 35-day recount process conducted at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), East Coast of Demerara.
The APNU+AFC refused to sign on to the certification, as they have with eight other electoral districts. Of note, the party representatives have belatedly claimed that massive voters’ irregularities occurred during the elections process. These claims, however, have been found wanting when investigated by this and other publications. These findings were detailed in numerous articles during the recount process.
The close of day tabulation showed the PPP/C with a total of 233,336 votes while the APNU+AFC had 217,920 votes. These figures effectively gave the PPP/C a win in the recount of votes in the 2020 elections. In contrast with the previous two Region Four declarations announced by the Region Four Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo, the certification shows a clear picture of rigging committed in favour of the coalition.
Analyses of the related ballot boxes show that Mingo’s tabulation subtracted 391 votes from PPP/C, and added 1,514 votes to APNU+AFC. This amounted to a total variance of 1,905 votes from the corresponding Statements of Poll (SOP).
Notably, all political parties, except for the APNU+AFC, have accepted the PPP/C victory and have highlighted plans for the way forward.
Yesterday, after the certification, this publication spoke with several agents of contesting parties, all of whom expressed high hopes about the impending declaration.
Counting agent of the PPP/C, Dr. Frank Anthony, reported that yesterday’s operations went smoothly. He disclosed that while the parties were awaiting their copies of the certificate, stakeholders expressed kind sentiments to the staff of the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM). Members the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) scrutinizing team, as well as local and international observers, also displayed professionalism and commitment during the recount, Dr. Anthony intimated.
Presidential candidate of the LJP, Lenox Shuman, made note of how tiring and often disheartening the process was even as he expressed hoped that the country never suffers under such uncertainly again. The LJP, which was part of a joinder, managed to secure one seat in parliament. Shuman emphasized that his party, “intends on using the seat for Guyana.”
“We expect to serve this country,” he said, adding, “We have no other purpose. We have to ensure that the incoming administration, regardless of who sits there, is held to account to the people.”
Observation Reports and its impact on the declaration
Questions were raised with representatives of the political parties about the Observation Reports (OR) and the impact this could have on the final declaration. Many agreed that while the OR is of importance, this will not in any way cast any shadow of doubt on the validity of the exercise.
However, the APNU+AFC shared contrary thoughts. Throughout the entire recount process the coalition peddled claims of dead and migrant voters, as well as other unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud. These claims were, nonetheless, recorded in the OR. It is the coalition’s view that this could derail the declarations.
Daniel Seeram, an agent of the coalition told the press, “I think that the OR has already cast more than a shadow of doubt on the recount process. From day one when we went into the first box we saw numerous anomalies and it has been coming to front. So yes, I believe that that has already been done.”
GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, will now be tasked with taking the tabulations from all 10 electoral districts in order to prepare and submit a report entailing a summary of the observations. This should be completed on or before June 13, 2020. The Commission will have three days to deliberate over the report, after which a national declaration is expected.
The CARICOM scrutinizing team is expected to submit a report to the Commission, as is stated in the gazetted order, which may include their observations, recommendations and conclusions.
Opposition-nominated Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, told the press that he was unsure when the team would be submitting their report. In fact, he highlighted that the order does indicate or make the CARICOM report a precursor to the Commission’s deliberations. “We can proceed to deliberate. No doubt if we will have that CARICOM report at the time of the deliberations, it does not detract from us conducting that full meeting,” Gunraj explained.