…says credible recount only way to save Guyana
… states any attempt to tamper with ballot boxes will be exposed
People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo has rubbished claims that the Party intends to challenge the countrywide recount, positing that it was the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition which was trying to prevent the activity from taking place.
PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo
“The PPP wants the recount. It wants the recount done expeditiously. It wants it done transparently,” Jagdeo said during a virtual press conference on Thursday, noting that “the PPP has no plan to challenge the recount in the court now”.
In its April 30 edition, the Guyana Chronicle – the State newspaper –
GECOM Chairman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh
reported that the PPP/Civic was planning to challenge the recount, attributing the information to “a reliable source”, but Jagdeo said “this is all a fabrication” and “nonsense”.
The article also mentions a letter sent by PPP/C’s Anil Nandlall, on behalf of Jagdeo to the Chairman of the
Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield
Guyana Elections Commission, Retired Justice Claudette Singh. But Jagdeo explained that the letter simply requested a meeting with the Chair to discuss its proposals for the recount.
In fact, he pointed out that it was the David Granger-led APNU/AFC which has been frustrating the process since the first fraudulent declaration was made by the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.
He reminded that when the PPP/C challenged the declaration in the court, it was APNU lawyers who attempted to frustrate the process.
Further, Jagdeo highlighted that when all stakeholders had agreed to a countrywide recount under Caricom supervision, it was an APNU candidate, Ulita Moore – who filed an injunction to block the activity.
Now, Jagdeo contends that the APNU/AFC Commissioners at GECOM were further trying to frustrate the process since they supported the 156-day recount proposal made by Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield whereas the PPP/C Commissioners had submitted a plan which could see the activity completed in 10 days.
The PPP General Secretary also made reference to the fumigation of the recount venue ordered by APNU’s Volda Lawrence and the proposal by the APNU/AFC-led COVID-19 Task Force for foreign observers to be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival in Guyana to observe the process. The latest in its efforts, he noted, is the requirement for the recount staff to change their masks every 30-60 minutes – which will see the Commission needing to procure some 33,000 masks ahead of the recount.
Furthermore, Jagdeo noted that it was APNU/AFC Commissioners who voted against live-streaming the recount which would have guaranteed transparency, against the removal of compromised GECOM staff, and for an auditor to observe the activity.
Jagdeo reasoned that the allegations coming from the APNU/AFC camp were all part of its aim to change the narrative about the elections – something which the coalition’s Campaign Manager Joseph Harmon admitted that the grouping intended to do.
Referring to continuous claims being made by coalition officials that they won the elections, Jagdeo once again challenged them to produce the Statements of Poll (SoPs).
“If they won the elections, they should only be too happy to do that,” he said, noting that “they know if they release them and the recount shows a different number of ballots on the boxes, then it will show that APNU was part of the problem”.
Jagdeo posited that: “If they think, by some miracle, they are going to change that result, they are wrong. They lost the elections and they are the ones trying to frustrate the recount because they know this.”
Noting that the APNU/AFC along with complicit GECOM officials intended to create confusion during the recount process, Jagdeo appealed to elections staff to not take part in any illegality.
“Don’t be part of that process, it will be exposed at one stage or another…if you are part of that, then you will become complicit, so do a professional job,” he urged.
In fact, Jagdeo noted that any attempt to “tamper” with any of the boxes would be exposed.
Making it clear that no one was interested in fresh elections, Jagdeo said “the signal from the international community is this [the recount] is last chance to resolve this issue in a democratic way”.
“This is their last way to get out of this situation avoiding sanctions,” he posited, reminding that the international community has already made it clear that the swearing-in of a new government based on Mingo’s declarations would result in Guyana being isolated.
