Recount confirms PPP/C won elections – Jagdeo

– with ECD ballots outstanding, PPP’s lead is expected to surge past 16,000
– beware of APNU/AFC’s “acts of desperation” – PM Candidate Brig
(Rtd) Mark Phillips

The National Recount Exercise – currently in its final stages at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre – is confirming that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has won the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections by in excess of 15,000 votes.

This is according to PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo, who, in a public statement on Thursday, said the exercise is also confirming the accuracy of the Statements of Polls (SoPs) in the Party’s possession in addition to confirming ‘massive fraud’ perpetrated by Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
As such, Jagdeo has since called on Guyanese “not to be distracted by the rantings of the APNU+AFC…It is nothing new”.
According to Jagdeo, “It is the nation’s expectation that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will declare the results of the recount, in accordance with its amended Order.”

The law and the Constitution, he said, provide a recourse for those who are aggrieved by the results of an election.
Jagdeo has since reasoned that “no one should be surprised by APNU+AFC’s latest description of the March 2, 2020 National and Regional Elections, as “not credible”.
He recalled that “it has been the APNU+AFC’s desperate mantra the moment Clairmont Mingo was caught attempting to perpetrate massive fraud in the tabulation of Electoral District Number Four (4) to their benefit”.
According to Jagdeo, “they fought determinedly for Mingo’s fraudulent declarations to prevail. They never wanted a recount of the ballots. They even went to the Court to stop it. They tried at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to stop it.”
He said that “in the end, all their efforts failed” and that “they knew that once the ballots were recounted, it would confirm the accuracy of the SoPs, which they continue to hide from public scrutiny”.
Meanwhile, PPP/C’s Prime Ministerial Candidate, retired Brigadier Mark Phillips, on Thursday, also echoed Jagdeo’s sentiments that the recount was confirming a PPP/C victory.
He told reporters encamped in the makeshift media centre outside the ACCC venue that this result was known to both parties within hours after the March 2 polls and cautioned Guyanese to beware APNU+AFC’s “acts of desperation”.
In addition, it was indicated that with only the East Coast ballot boxes left to be counted, the PPP/C is expected to surge past 16,000 in its lead. The areas that are left to be counted are the PPP/C strongholds.
Meanwhile, independent analysis being undertaken by political stakeholders contesting the elections have also called the elections for the PPP/C.
The Citizenship Initiative’s (TCI’s) Shaz Ally, in a preliminary statement based on tabulated results from the recount thus far, places the PPP with a 33-seat simple majority in the next Parliament while the incumbent would retain 31 and the joinder parties would pick up a single seat.
According to Ally’s projection, the final boxes will finish counting by Monday morning, which is June 8, 2020 and GECOM should tabulate and declare the results within three days later.
He has since surmised his projection based on the fact that the SoPs published for District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) are genuine and the results coming out of the recount for the other nine regions.
As such, he said the projections give APNU+AFC some 215,287 votes while the PPP/C’s trajectory indicates that it would secure 232,400.
According to TCI’s Ally, the other parties – including the joinder alliance – will take some 9481 votes.
He posited, “From that, the PPP/C will win the general elections by 7632 votes, which is inclusive of all parties and beat the APNU+AFC by 17,113 votes.”
Ally noted too, “even if you add other parties’ votes to the APNU+AFC, the PPP/C still will win; if you add the other parties’ votes to the PPP/C, the coalition got overall beat by 26,594 votes.”