“Never seen such transparent effort to alter an election result” – ex-Jamaican PM Golding, OAS EOM Head

Former Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who had led the Organisation of American States’ Electoral Observation Mission (OAS-EOM) to monitor Guyana’s March 2 General and Regional Elections, says he has never seen such a blatant attempt to alter elections results.

Golding was at the time presenting his preliminary report to the Permanent Council of the OAS, which held an ordinary virtual session on Wednesday. During his presentation, the EOM Head said, “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election.”
According to Golding, this is even more brazen given the paper trail that is in place, including the fact that more than a dozen copies of the Statements of Poll (SOPs) which indicate how many votes were obtained by each party are prepared at each polling station after the ballots are counted on election night.

“One copy is posted on the wall outside the polling station, and each party representative — and there were nine in all — is entitled to receive a copy. You know, it takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present fictious numbers when such a sturdy paper trail exists, and this is being illustrated now as the recount proceeds,” the former Jamaican Leader stated.
With only nine days in today, the National Recount, which the OAS has representatives here monitoring, has already revealed that the Region Four results that were declared by embattled Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo were heavily inflated in favour of the incumbent APNU/AFC Coalition. The Demerara-Mahaica region is the largest voting district in the country, and the only one in which there were major issues during the counting process.
In fact, the EOM Head, during his presentation, pointed to several instances where the recount of ballot boxes showed a vast difference between the figures on the SOP and those declared by Mingo.
For example, in ballot box 4062, Golding pointed out, the recount found 182 votes for the APNU/AFC coalition and 43 votes for the PPP/C – the same that was indicated in the SOP given to party agents. But Mingo significantly altered the votes and declared 292 votes for APNU/AFC and 32 for PPP/C.
A similar pattern was found for ballot box 4063, where it was stated on the SOP that APNU/AFC got 15 votes while the PPP secured 276 votes, but Mingo had declared 85 votes for the Coalition and 246 for the PPP. Again, the recount verified the figures on the original SOP.
In ballot box 4064, the same obtained. “Statement of Poll issued on elections night showed 70 votes for APNU; 93 votes for PPP. The Returning Officer declared that results as 170 votes for APNU – one hundred more (votes); 73 votes for PPP – 20 less. When the box was recounted, the numbers were 71 votes for APNU; 96 votes for PPP. There were four rejected ballots that were considered in the recount to be good,” he told the OAS Permanent Council.

Failed to meet required standards
Nevertheless, Golding noted that even after departing Guyana on March 14, when the Observer Mission said in a statement that the tabulation process by RO Mingo did not meet the required standards of fairness and transparency and was unlikely to produce a credible result, the OAS Mission still remained closely engaged and informed on developments in Guyana regarding the electoral process.
In fact, there are currently two accredited members of the OAS Mission in Georgetown who will be observing the recount through to its conclusion.
Regarding that exercise, the former Jamaica PM lauded the fact that it is being streamed online, and that political parties are fully engaged with the recount and are able to address their concerns to electoral officials for consideration and resolution.
However, he posited that the continued reiteration of issues that have already been resolved and insistence on actions or discussions that do not materially impact the recount of the ballots themselves are creating inordinate delays in the process, with some ballot boxes requiring up to five hours to complete.
“In the first five days of the recount, 207 of the 2339 ballot boxes were completed. While the pace of the recount continues to improve incrementally, reports from the ground suggest that the recount process will last longer than the projected 25 days unless the pace is significantly improved. Greater consistency in the management of the workstations, along with efforts to exclude or limit actions that hinder their efficiency, may help in this regard,” the OAS Mission Head contended.

Importance of recount
During Wednesday’s OAS Permanent Council ordinary session, OAS Secretary-General Ambassador Luis Almagro underscored the importance of the recount process, and committed the OAS Mission’s participation as observers until its completion.
“The people of Guyana deserve to be certain who will be leading the country in the next very important phase of development… A legitimate government is absolutely necessary, and this should be a priority of everyone in the region…,” Ambassador Almagro stated.
Meanwhile, Guyana’s Ambassador to the OAS, Dr Riyad Insanally, in a brief address to the Permanent Council, maintained there was no interference by the incumbent Coalition in the work of the Guyana Elections Commission. He also reiterated statements by caretaker President David Granger, who has committed to accepting the declaration of results by GECOM following the recount.