…ignores recount has proven Mingo rigged Reg 4 votes
Caretaker President David Granger has sought to assure that he cannot swear himself in and moreover, he has every intention of complying with whatever declaration the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) makes in accordance with the Constitution.
Caretaker President David Granger
Granger was at the time making an appearance on Lite Radio on Tuesday, where he appealed for patience as GECOM follows due process. He acknowledged that while the process is slow, it is a lawful one.
“I only ask that we allow the present process, which may be slow but it is lawful. Allow that process to come to an end. I’ve undertaken publicly, privately, in word and in deed, I’ve given every assurance that under the law and the Constitution, I will abide by the declaration of the Election Commission.”
“I can do no other. I cannot swear myself in as President. I cannot defy the courts. I cannot defy the Elections Commission,” Granger also maintained during the radio programme.
Granger called Tuesday a special day, since he was sworn in on May 26, 2015, as Guyana’s President. According to him, it is important that Guyanese be patient and await the declaration of the results.
“I’d urge the entire population of Guyana, to be patient and await the declaration of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.”
Persons in A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) have been on record saying that the President should be sworn in based on the report currently in GECOM’s possession.
This report contains the declaration of the Returning Officer. The problem, however, is that the Region Four declaration, which would have given APNU/AFC enough votes to win the election, is tainted by widespread allegations of fraud.
Tainted
The recount has shown that the declaration of Region Four Returning officer Clairmont Mingo, was inflated to favour the coalition. In addressing the claims that he has tried to rig the election, Granger expressed resentment over those charges.
“I have not done anything wrong. The Government has not done anything wrong. And I really resent the allegations of rigging and hypocrisy and unlawful behaviour, which have been levelled against me personally and against my Government.”
“As far as I know, the process from March 2nd, even prior, remains uninterruptedly, within the authority of the Election Commission,” he said.
In fact, the main opposition, PPP, contends that a recount of the ballots cast in just 87 of the more than 400 ballot boxes that Mingo declared has confirmed that there was an inflation of figures for APNU/AFC, equivalent to the 2015 margin of victory declared.
This was according to opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic Executive, Anil Nandlall, who during a media engagement on Friday, told reporters “our latest analysis of Mingo’s fraud shows that in 87 boxes so far, Mingo fraudulently allocated to APNU/AFC a total of 4495 votes and reduced the PPP votes by 758.”
In the case of Providence, an examination of merely 23 boxes showed that Mingo added 1068 votes to APNU/AFC, and subtracted 341 votes from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) – representing a total variance of 1409 votes from the corresponding Statements of Poll (SoPs) for those 23 boxes.
As though to counter this, APNU/AFC agents have made a slew of objections against electors since the recount began, claiming that they were either dead or out of the country. Despite constant requests for proof, the party has failed to provide proof of dead/migrated voters for whom ballots were issued.
In the case of Belladrum, an APNU/AFC agent objected on the grounds that the persons, whom he identified by the corresponding GECOM serial number, were, in fact, out of the country.
It was eventually discovered that the ballot box in question contained 250 votes for APNU/AFC while the PPP had only gotten three votes from that constituency while two other parties contesting the district secured a combined total of three. It would mean that the APNU/AFC agent could only be objecting to at least 19 votes cast for the APNU/AFC.
There were separate reports of a similar nature, including one where an APNU/AFC agent objected to a vote that was cast by an individual who turned out to be an open supporter of the coalition, as evidenced by photographs of the person gyrating on stage at an APNU/AFC rally.
The APNU/AFC agent at the counting station had earlier in the exercise made an objection, claiming that the person had, in fact, migrated. The Region One resident was later found to have never left the country.
Additionally, APNU/AFC reports that a couple from Berbice, who was listed as voted on Elections Day but were not in the country, turned out to be fictitious when media reports surfaced that the couple was, in fact, in the country and spent the day at home after voting.
