“Demented APNU/AFC” says PPP rigged for them to win – Jagdeo

…Polling Day staff under fire from increasing APNU/AFC hostility
…as Harmon now introduces ‘fake ballots’ to ‘dead votes’ tale
…GECOM has a responsibility to protect its integrity, defend self – Nandlall

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has frontally addressed the broadcast by the APNU/AFC General Secretary Joseph Harmon, saying that as the reality of the uncovered fraud perpetrated by Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo sets in, “it is driving APNU/AFC into such desperation that they are making utterances that can only come from a demented mind.”
Recalling that Harmon has been mired in a series of multi-billion-dollar corruption scandals, the party suggested he “obviously is afraid of criminal prosecution, should there be a change in Government.”
The PPP in its statement posited “this can be the only reason for him to make the series of false and ridiculous allegations that he has levelled at the PPP/C.”
According to the party, Harmon’s accusations are now being levelled against the entire GECOM machinery that worked on Elections Day.
These would include accusations against APNU/AFC polling agents along with the seven other political parties that participated in the elections of being in a conspiracy with the PPP/C to enable the PPP/C to rig the elections.
Notably, the PPP observed, “in the end, he [Harmon] said that the APNU/AFC has won those very elections.”
As such, the Opposition has since placed on record its rejection of “this litany of false and unstable ramblings of Harmon.”
The party was adamant, “GECOM can no longer remain silent on this matter” and as such called on the Chairperson of GECOM, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, “to respond to this devious and malicious attack by Harmon on GECOM’s integrity and the integrity of thousands of Guyanese who worked honestly and diligently to deliver free and fair Elections Day activities which have been so certified by all the accredited local and international observers teams.”
Among the tales that the APNU/AFC has concocted is that migrants and dead people voted. They also alleged that there were fake ballots, unstamped ballots, missing lists of electors and missing poll books along with ballots in wrong envelopes.

Hostilities
Meanwhile, the staff of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is coming under increased hostilities with the daily barrage of accusations of electoral fraud being levelled by the coalition APNU/AFC, and the political opposition has called on the electoral body to defend itself and personnel.
The views were articulated by the Opposition on Monday, subsequent to a live broadcast message by APNU/AFC General Secretary, where he accused the GECOM staff of being in cohorts with the PPP/C to rig the elections.
Harmon, in levelling the accusation, has since introduced a new dimension to the coalition’s version of events to say there are now multiple ballots being found that bear similar counterfoil markings suggesting that fake ballots were somehow introduced to the ballot boxes.
This is in addition to repeating the allegations of dead or migrated persons listed as having voted on Elections Day.
Former Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall addressed the broadcast statement by Harmon during a media engagement with reporters on the outskirts of the National Recount exercise underway by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
Nandlall told reporters, “I am worried about unnecessary hostilities being excited in our country by political leaders who continue to make irresponsible, baseless accusations and insinuations and a pack of political leaders who continue to attack the character, reputation and good standing of tens of thousands of Guyanese.”
According to Nandlall, the APNU/AFC speakers “are accusing every person who participated in the elections of fraud; they are accusing all those people of a criminal offence and all those who man the electoral machinery on Elections Day are being accused of perpetrating multiple criminal offences. You can’t continue like that in a society and GECOM has a responsibility to protect its integrity.”
Seeking to give a holistic analogy to the political process that has engulfed the country, Nandlall told reporters some years ago, “…a Barbadian Prime Minister had said at some Caricom (Caribbean Community) Conference that Forbes Burnham is a ‘cross’ that all Caribbean people have to bear.”
According to Nandlall, “Forbes Burnham’s legacy is still with us and we still have to bear that cross on our shoulders,” as he pointed in the direction of the recount venue and its activities.
The politician used the occasion to recall that “we went to elections in 2015, GECOM said we lost, we disagreed with the results but we left the Government, we behaved like civilised human beings, not like barbarians, we obeyed the rule of law, we obeyed the Constitution of the country and we left the seat of Government in a peaceful way”. He went on say: “look at what these pack of riggers are doing to Guyana.”