AFC accepts fraudulent, illegal Region 4 RO’s declaration as credible

…says Gaskin’s expression of lack of transparency not shared by party

Increasingly isolated, the coalition was further shaken on Friday when Alliance For Change (AFC) executive Dominic Gaskin expressed doubts over the controversial Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) declaration and urged more transparency in the process.

AFC Chairman Raphael Trotman was asked about Gaskin’s comments when he appeared at a press conference on Saturday. However, Trotman sought to distance the party from Gaskin’s comments and noted that they are his personal opinions.
“Up until last evening (Friday) all of us, as citizens, wanted to see the process continued and finalised but in terms of what the letter of the Representation of the People’s Act said and what the Chief Justice ordered.”
“Mr Gaskin has his own personal views. I can say that the overwhelmingly majority of the AFC membership and leadership does not share that view. And I believe that following last night’s declaration… So, we respect Mr Gaskin’s personal views, but they are certainly not the AFC’s views,” Trotman added.

In a social media post on Friday, Gaskin had expressed concern about the process at GECOM; becoming the only dissenting voice from the governing party. Nearly everyone else, from the diplomatic community to civil society to United States politicians, have said the process lacked transparency.
Gaskin, who is also President David Granger’s son-in-law, stated in his post that “given all that has taken place over the last twelve days, I am not sufficiently convinced that the results of the Region Four elections as declared by the GECOM (Guyana Elections Commission) RO (Returning Officer) last Thursday (March 5) accurately reflect the results recorded on the various Statements of Poll collected from the 879 Polling Stations.
Gaskin admitted that it is unlikely that all the credible observers who criticised the election process could have somehow gotten it wrong. He also questioned why GECOM and Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo appeared so reluctant to conduct the process in a transparent manner.
“I have a difficulty accepting that all the persons and organisations who have so far deemed the process to lack credibility have somehow gotten it wrong. I have a difficulty understanding why GECOM, specifically the Region Four RO, would not be bending over backwards to convince the various observers that his tabulation process was sound and all his results credible,” he also said.
The leading AFC executive member conceded “If our election results are as widely rejected as they appear likely to be, then there can be no winners. We all lose. This is not what I campaigned for.”
As such, Gaskin has since demanded that GECOM publish their SoPs “for all to see. If not, it can never hold credible elections in Guyana again. In his statement, Gaskin also alluded to a “few rotten eggs” seeking to divide the nation and he urged GECOM to publish the Statements of Poll or lose credibility.
“Unfortunately, none of us can prevent GECOM from taking this process to its obvious conclusion, however, I believe the nation deserves to see all the numbers on which GECOM intends to base its final declaration.”
“It is a shame that good Guyanese are now turning on each other simply because a few rotten eggs are attempting to pull us apart. Time to tone down the hate, accept that we’re all in the same shit storm, and work our way out of it,” Gaskin had added.