AFC’s denial of attempts to rig elections was unsound – Gaskin

…says party’s position was not endorsed by support base

The position taken by minor coalition partner, the Alliance For Change (AFC), following the March 2 General and Regional Elections, has done much harm to the party, and its leadership must begin working immediately to regain the trust of its support base.

This is according to AFC Executive Member and former Business Minister under the coalition Government, Dominic Gaskin, during a recent interview with Room 592 with host Yog Mahadeo.
Even though all the other political stakeholders had concluded that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had won the March 2 polls, both coalition partners; the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and AFC, refused to accept the results and concede defeat, plunging the country into a prolonged period of political crisis.
“The position taken by the AFC post-March 2 was strategically unsound for a party like the AFC, because I think it’s a position that did not go down well with the support base of the AFC and therefore it leaves the AFC in a bit of a bind right now,” Gaskin asserted.
According to Gaskin, he was not pleased with the party’s position to remain silent in the face of blatant attempts by District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, to alter the results of the elections in favour of the APNU/AFC.
“I don’t think that the AFC did itself any favours after that attempt to rig the elections took place by either ignoring the attempt, or denying it, or actually trying to be beneficiaries of what was an attempt to falsify the results of the elections,” the former Business Minister quipped.
In relation to the controversy surrounding the refusal of the APNU/AFC to release its Statements of Poll (SoPs) to back up its false claims of ‘victory’, Gaskin posited that based on the evidence available, it is impossible for the coalition to have won the elections.
“Based on the information available to me, it would have been very difficult for us to have won the elections, and certainly almost impossible for Mingo’s numbers to have been accurate.
“And furthermore, if I can add, a lot of the information at the time that I had access to correlated with the PPP’s SoPs that they had made public.”
In relation to the party’s ability to move forward, Gaskin expressed that leaders must now begin efforts to rebuild the party and regain the trust of supporters who had expressed confidence in them to do what is right for the country.
He said it is now up to the current leadership of the AFC to ensure that the party survives this difficult period. However, he noted that “this will require a completely different posture from what I am seeing or from the way the party has positioned itself over the last few months”.
He argued that the AFC did bring some value to the coalition and it needs to go back to its support base with fresh ideas and commitments.
Gaskin, who is APNU/AFC’s Leader, David Granger’s son-in-law, had warned his colleagues within the coalition that they were losing political ground as they continued to escalate a political crisis in Guyana despite knowing that they lost the General and Regional Elections.
“You cannot win this battle. Find a way out today. It will be easier than trying to do so tomorrow. And for God’s sake stop abusing everyone who dares to suggest that you lost the election. There is not a shred of evidence to suggest otherwise,” he had posted on his Facebook page.
He had expressed that it is hard to fathom how the APNU/AFC can still be arguing many months after the fact, about something as straightforward as an election, the results of which, at the close of poll, had been known and has not changed since.
Gaskin had said that no amount of shifting narratives, specious arguments, contrived reports or court rulings can change the contents of those 2339 ballot boxes, in which the net will of the people of this country is expressed. To this end, the AFC Executive had said the coalition’s leadership needs to be honest with its supporters.
Meanwhile, Gaskin explained that before he went public with his statements he had indicated to the leadership of the AFC that he was uncomfortable with the position taken by the party. He added that he didn’t detect any change in the position of the party and did not believe that his position would have prevailed.
In relation to his own future within the AFC, he indicated that his name was not included in the list of candidates “so there is no way I am going to Parliament.”
He further noted that he is not qualified to sit in Parliament based on the interpretation by the Chief Justice regarding the constitutional provisions on dual citizenship.
The former Business Minister noted that he is very pleased that the political crisis is over and it has been resolved in a way that would appear to be acceptable to as many Guyanese as possible.