– from 85 boxes, APNU/AFC numbers inflated by 4415 and PPP deflated by 686
The National Recount exercise underway at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) to ascertain votes cast on March 2 last has revealed that Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo inflated the figures for ballots cast in that region by an average of 50 per box.
One of the instances where the numbers were inflated for APNU/AFC
Opposition Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Tabulation Agent Anil Nandlall told media operatives on Thursday — Day 16 of the recount — that of the 85 boxes of Region Four ballots recounted, Mingo has been shown to give the coalition, A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), 4,415 additional votes.
Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo
Compounding the situation, the recount exercise has illustrated that in those 85 ballot boxes, the Region Four RO allegedly reduced the votes cast for the PPP/C by 686.
Nandlall gave this damning conclusion during a media engagement on the outskirts of the ACCC venue, and said that the ballot “boxes, as they are being completed, continue to confirm the accuracy of the Statements of Poll (SOP) published by PPP in every material way”.
An SOP is generated on Elections Day by each polling officer for each polling station, reflecting the votes allocated to each party in addition to recording spoilt and other such ballots.
According to Nandlall, “…in terms of Mingo fraud, 85 boxes that Mingo used that spreadsheet for have already been counted, and the total number of votes that the fraudulent spreadsheet Mingo used allocated to APNU+AFC is 4,415.”
He was adamant that Mingo had fraudulently allocated votes to the APNU-AFC while simultaneously reducing the number of votes for the PPP.
Nandlall said his party is more than willing to share publicly the information it has, including audio and video clippings with Mingo declaring the figures, and he also referred to the already public copies of the SOPs.
The former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs under the PPP/C Administration has in fact challenged “anyone” with SOPs that contradict those that the party has made public; and quickly suggested, “If they had, it would have already been out there.”
Adamant that his party “would not put out numbers that we cannot vouch for”, Nandlall challenged the APNU+AFC coalition to dispute the allegations of fraud being levelled against Mingo by producing its SOPs. “Just one! Let them put up one!” he challenged.
Presenting a case in support of the allegations of fraud against the Region Four RO, Nandlall told media operatives, “When Mingo stopped using the SOPs and produced that spreadsheet, we requested from him an explanation of the origin of that spreadsheet. He never explained where he got it from.”
Nandlall related that RO Mingo in fact said “that he extrapolated it from numbers on the SOPs. So, we said, ‘We need to verify from our SOPs and the SOPs that you have that the numbers correspond on the spreadsheet’.”
According to Nandlall, “He never produced those SOPs…up to now.”
At the end of Day 16, the recount exercise had completed an additional 88 boxes — the most completed in a single day since the activity commenced on May 6 last at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.
With Regions One and Two completed — confirming landslide wins in those districts — the exercise on Thursday recounted additional ballot boxes for Region Three, where the PPP/C had 31,022 more of its votes ascertained as valid, while APNU+AFC had 11,229 votes confirmed.
The exercise completed recounting 19 ballot boxes for votes coming from Region Four, and at the end of the evening, 24,374 more votes had been tabulated for APNU+AFC, while 21,826 votes were ascertained for the PPP/C for the district.
Additional boxes recounted for Region Three saw the APNU+AFC receiving 11,229 votes while the PPP has since secured 31,022 votes from the region so far.
Region Five ballot boxes recounted by the end of the day ascertained 9,505 more moves for the PPP/C, while the coalition maintained a marginal lead with 10,011 votes tabulated so far.
Ballots recounted for District Six saw the PPP/C securing 3,714 more votes, while APNU+AFC held a slim lead with 4,061 votes tabulated for the coalition thus far in the Region.
Region Seven, which is the most recent electoral district to have its ballots recounted, saw just nine ballot boxes being scrutinized on Thursday.
The exercise saw the tabulation of an additional 1,995 votes for the coalition, with the PPP/C picking up 786 more votes from the region. (See analysis of fraudulent declarations by Mingo on pages, 14,15 and 16)
