In the face of alleged irregularities, election officials have proceeded with, and completed, their count of the votes in the election of office bearers to serve the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU). All the ballot boxes have been counted,
Incumbent President of GPSU, Patrick Yarde
and election results are expected by Wednesday.
Presidential candidate Gregory Gaspar has been crying foul over election officials’ continued refusal to provide his side with the voters list, in order that his officials can ascertain how many persons had actually cast their votes. Guyana Times understands that, by Sunday, all the boxes had been counted but the Gaspar side’s demands have still not been met.
In an interview with this publication on Sunday, Gaspar related that none of the information requested, which includes eligible voters lists and statement of polls, has been provided.
“We have been asking for information and they have refused and continued with the counting. We wanted the list for the ballot boxes so we would know how many votes were cast. We also requested the final voters list,” he lamented.
“To date, we have not gotten it; and they went ahead and they counted. The boxes have been counted and we are awaiting the results of the elections. The final results of the elections will be released on Wednesday. All the boxes that were left to be counted were counted.”
Gaspar related that the only boxes that should have been counted at GPSU Headquarters were the boxes from Georgetown. The boxes that came in on Friday morning should have been counted in their respective regions.
There was, last Saturday, a standoff between the two sides over the information requested not being provided. Guyana Times understands that police had to be summoned in one instance to pacify the situation.
In a strongly worded letter dated April 29 and addressed to Elections Officer Herman De Souza, Gaspar had complained that the voters list was requested on April 23, 26, 27, 28 and 29, but was never provided. In the letter, he also complained about ballot boxes being delivered without the elections officer or assistant elections officers being present.
The letter also raised the issue of Gaspar’s scrutineers not being able to view the statements of poll for outlying regions, such as Two, Three, Five, Six, Seven and 10.
“Members are aware that this information is critical for validating the count of ballots cast for the respective stations/roving ballot boxes, and I therefore demand that this information be made available to each candidate contesting the GPSU elections for 2017, as well as the observers witnessing the count prior to the counting of ballots,” Gaspar wrote.
In addition, Gaspar expressed fears that voters were inadvertently disenfranchised. He stated that after the injunction restraining the holding of the election of office bearers for the Executive Council of the Guyana Public Service Union was discharged, De Souza had set the election for April 27, 2017.
“This action resulted in the disenfranchisement of several eligible voters of the Guyana Public Service Union, as ample notice was not given to all eligible voters. Many of these voters indicated that efforts were made to have this matter addressed, but to no avail; and (they) have informed me of same,” Gaspar stated in his letter.
Gaspar also expressed concern about the condition in which some of the boxes arrived. In his letter, Gaspar mentioned his suspicion that a Region Three ballot box had been tampered with. He said allegations that votes from non-eligible voters were placed in the box should be reviewed before finalising the elections.
He also stated that, in one case, four ballot boxes from Linden, in Region 10, arrived with three seals broken. Gaspar related that he approached the elections officer earlier, but was told that they were given three seals for each box.
“The one that came from Linden only had one seal. The others were open and empty. We asked how come, and we were told that someone who was working with the boxes emptied out everything and put them in one box,” he said, adding that this was a breach, as no one was authorised to breach the seal.
Asked yesterday whether he would accept the results if they were in favour of incumbent President Patrick Yarde, Gaspar said his team would have to “wait and see.”
For his part, Chief Elections Officer De Souza has stated that every effort had been made to ensure that the elections were fair and transparent. On Saturday he claimed that there was disruption from “some candidates” and their supporters, some of whom gained access to the GPSU Building without “proper authorisation.”
