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Coalition backs Lowenfield’s alternate numbers
– Says he answers to no one but Constitution
The David Granger-led A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition has thrown their support behind the alternative figures produced by Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield which grants them a win for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections while also scrapping more than 115,000 votes.
The Coalition pointed to Article 177(2) which speaks to the role of the CEO advising the GECOM Chair, Ret’d Justice Claudette Singh before a declaration for the elections result is made along with the ruling of the Appellate Court in the Eslyn David case that the words “more votes cast” in that very Article should mean “more valid votes.”
“In keeping with the guidance set out by the Court of Appeal in Eslyn David v. Chief Election Officer, et al., and as he is required to do by the Representation of the People Act [at section 96], the CEO prepared and submitted his Election Report on 23rd June 2020,” the Coalition said in their statement.
Lowenfield’s report however, did not use the figures from the recount as he was instructed by the GECOM Chair – he used alternate figures. The recount numbers would show that the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections with 233,336 votes. The Coalition, according to recount figures amassed 217,920 votes.
With Lowenfield’s alternate figures, the win went to the Coalition with 171,825 votes while the Opposition received 166,343; those are “of the valid and credible votes cast at the General and Regional Elections,” the Coalition said in their statement.
In that report, Lowenfield scrapped a total of 115,844 votes, tabulated during the recount and reducing the total valid votes cast in the General Election from 460,352 to 344,508 – disenfranchising thousands of voters who exercised their democratic right on March 2.
The recount figures would have given the PPP/C 33 parliamentary seats to form a government, with 31 going to the APNU+AFC Coalition and the remainder handed to the Tri-party Joinder, to complete the 65- seat National Assembly.
With Lowenfield’s new figures, 33 seats in the National Assembly were handed to the APNU+AFC Coalition while 31 seats went to the PPP and the remainder to the Joinder.
The CEO and his report, after being made public, came under heavy scrutiny from a string of stakeholders, with many questioning where he got his figures. The Coalition came to his defense citing that he discharged his functions as CEO within “the ambit of the law.”
Further, the party stated that, “The CEO, clearly, is empowered and instructed by the Constitution and Laws of Guyana, not by any other entity or person.”
According to the party, “The Report of the Chief Election Officer on the Recount Exercise is a substantial report which assessed all the 2,339 ballot boxes.”
The Coalition noted the instances of “irregularities”, they claimed were uncovered during the recount, to say that the results disclosed “did not meet the standards for credible elections.” They also referenced the CARICOM Report in which instances of “anomalies” were pointed to.
Kaieteur News should point out that the “instances of irregularities” including allegations of migrant were unsubstantiated claims made by the Coalition during the recount process with no evidence provided to support them.
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