Recount continues to expose fraudulent figures by Mingo in favour of APNU/AFC

The national elections recount has not reached the halfway stage and stakeholders have already found that the exercise is exposing the fact that the declarations made by Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo were bogus and inflated in favour of the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) party.

In an interview with the media after day four of Saturday’s recount came to a two-hour premature end, Guyana Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj explained that a comparison between GECOM’s official Statement Of Poll (SoP) for a Polling Station on the East Bank of Demerara and the Statement of Recount match perfectly. However, it does not match what Mingo declared.

“When Mingo was presiding over the calling out of figures, on the morning of March 13 at the Ashmins building, on that morning I had Statements of Poll in my hand that I received from the CEO’s process that I verified included the security features and was signed by two Commissioners.”
“And I heard a number being called by the persons in front and it did not correspond. It represented an addition of 40 votes favouring APNU/AFC. I objected and when I was objecting, several policemen were called into the room. And I remember saying it don’t matter how much Police you call; it will not stop my objection.”

Gunraj remembered asking them to show the SoP Mingo was using to make his declaration so that he could compare it with the one he had in his hand. This request was denied. According to Gunraj, the very same box nevertheless resurfaced.
“That box was counted. And I have seen that box, on the East Bank, that Statement of Recount matches identically the Statement of Poll I have. I have the audio of that one being called by Mr Mingo. For me, that one was the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Fraud
In a graphic comparison of six SoPs it had released, the recount figures and the ones declared by Mingo, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) showed that there was a consistent manipulation of the votes for APNU/AFC.
In the case of box number 4013, the figures PPP released had shown that both the recount figures and the SoP listed APNU as securing 188 votes. In Mingo’s declaration, however, APNU was given 247 votes, an increase of 59.
In box number 4014, the PPP had shown that while APNU was listed as securing 160 votes by both the SoP and the recount, Mingo had declared them as receiving 215 votes, an increase of 55.
The most graphic increase was in box number 4020, where the SoP and Statement of Recount had APNU securing 187 votes. Mingo declared them to have received 287 votes, an inflation of 100 votes.
Mingo has been a controversial figure, with several stakeholders making it clear prior to the recount that he must play no further role in the process. After the General and Regional Elections were held on March 2, 2020, the tabulation process went relatively smoothly for all the regions. That is until the process started in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), the most populated region in the country.
Strange things began happening as the tabulation got underway at the Returning Office at Ashmins building, High Street, Georgetown, with RO Mingo complaining of feeling unwell and being rushed to the hospital, his deputy staff refusing to continue the tabulation for various reasons, a GECOM staff being whisked away by Police after surreptitiously going into a room with a flash drive and computer and eventually the count being suspended.
Mingo then returned, with a piece of paper and declared results over the objections of all the party agents present. That declaration was subsequently declared unlawful by the High Court, but Mingo would return to make another controversial declaration, this time at GECOM’s office in Kingston.
Prior to his second declaration, agents at the GECOM office complained of being impeded from observing the counting process. Mingo’s refusal to show agents the original Statements Of Poll (SoPs) is reported to have hampered the transparency of the process.
He then made his declaration and was whisked away under Police protection. Both of these declarations differed in number and were reportedly not tabulated from the official SoPs and have been rejected by everyone except A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
A unified international community has already warned Guyana that it could be isolated and even sanctioned if a President is sworn in on the flawed results, resulting in an uneasy standoff between the international community and the Government.