Dear Editor,
The Coalition have tried every possible trick in their Rigging Book, and have attempted new ones as well.
They tried their utmost to nullify the successful No Confidence Motion; they had problems with the Official List of Electors, which Granger claimed was bloated and which could have been revived using the claims and objections period; they attempted to stall the impending elections by foisting on the nation the House-to-House Registration which the court later aborted; they fiddled with the claims and objections period; they reduced polling places in PPP strongholds to disenfranchise voters; they messed up the voters’ list with their ‘merging’, and the list appears to be endless; They openly flouted the Constitution and rulings of the court under the pretext that they respected these.
One would have thought that the above scenario would change after the Elections on March 2nd, but in fact it got far worse. After more court action to get the recount off the ground, resulting from Mingo’s wilful and fraudulent manipulation of the Region 4 Statements of Poll, the Coalition is now hell bent on a course of action to abort the entire 2020 Elections, which they now claim lacked credibility.
This is in direct contrast with what Granger and his cabal had claimed after March 2nd.
What is amazing is that, now that the recount has unearthed the massive fraud perpetrated by Mingo on behalf of the Coalition, they are now claiming that the dead voted, those migrated before the date of the election voted, etc. It must be recalled that Mingo submitted two declarations, and Granger was supposed to be sworn in on a few occasions. Now we can expect Basil Williams to be preparing for another frivolous court action.
However, Harmon’s comical and farcical statement beats all. Harmon’s claim that more than 86,000 voters who voted in the 2020 Elections “lacked credibility” is by itself an incredulous statement which lacks credibility. The so-called evidences he put forward make him a mocking stock, and have now propelled him into the category of his associate, Basil Williams.
Williams had earlier claimed that the current recount is illegal, despite being agreed to by his Party and the courts. It must be recalled that the Coalition had claimed, based on Mingo’s fraudulent declaration, that they had won the elections by a slim margin; therefore, if Harmon’s conclusion is correct, then the Coalition should have lost the Elections by more than 86,000 votes.
Therefore, it would seem that the ‘rigger’ rigged on behalf of the Coalition.
However, in a feeble attempt to support the Coalition’s nonsensical claims of ‘electoral fraud’, one columnist claimed that there is a flip-side to the Carter Center statement that, “Even if pre-election and election day processes go well, a flawed vote count or vote tabulation can fatally undermine the integrity and credibility of the electoral process and decrease public confidence and public acceptance of the results”.
That flip side can read, “Even if election day processes and the vote count or tabulation go well, a flawed pre-election process can fatally undermine the integrity and credibility of the electoral process and decrease public confidence and public acceptance of the results”.
The columnist should recall that the Coalition accepted the results of the 2018 Local Government Elections, and the Official List of Electors which was used then had a life until April 2019. The List had no problem then, but the Coalition used the excuse of a “list bloated by about 200,000 names” to delay the impending elections in order to remain illegally in office. They used GECOM’s illegal Chairman and the Chief Elections Officer to foist the House-to-House Registration on this nation when the List could have been revised by an extended claims and objections’ period.
However, even though the H2H was finally aborted, it had already captured in excess of 370,000 names, and it was finally revealed that 37,300 were “new registrants”. Of these, 17,000 were already on the voters list, and some had even voted in the past. The entire venture was an effort to buy time and produce a lot of duplications.
It must be recalled that the Coalition Commissioners of GECOM were against field verification of 20,556 names, since they knew that the list was “not bloated”, as was claimed. Commissioner Alexander was also adamant that “duplications cannot result in fraud”.
Then there was the claims and objections’ period, which saw the Coalition attempting to disenfranchise many legitimate voters in PPP support base, but which was finally resolved.
It must be recalled that, at every turn, it was the PPP/C which called for measures to ensure the List was credible and free of errors. It must also be recalled that PPP/C scrutineers were not part of the H2H registration process, only those of the APNU/AFC accompanied the GECOM staff. So how could the PPP/C rig the List?
The columnist should be aware that “an objective effort” was indeed “made to fix the problem before elections”; and furthermore, there is no evidence to support the “possibility of fraudulent use of the bloated list”, if indeed the list was bloated.
On the contrary, there is ample evidence to support the fact that the claims made by the Coalition: that the “dead” and “migrants” voted, are complete fabrications meant to annul the Elections.
There are no “irregularities” which are material enough to annul the Elections, and that is the reason why the Carter Center is not wanted by the Coalition to observe the Recount process. The Coalition, with the assistance of GECOM, feel that they could force an annulment, which may be supported by the CARICOM observers.
Moreover, the List was kosher to the Coalition up to when Mingo made his fraudulent declaration. I am wondering why the columnist failed to bring this evidence in his analysis, if indeed he is being objective. In addition, why has he not called on GECOM to cast the fraudulent declarations aside, rather than holding them “in abeyance”.
In addition, it would be a miraculous act for the PPP/C to rig the List when GECOM is controlled by the Coalition.
Did Lowenfield, Myers and Claudette Singh allow this to happen? It is a fact also that many who are employed by GECOM are supporters of the Coalition.
Indeed, the Carter Center cannot prevent elections from being “manipulated”, but it can report that the Recount process was credible and that the “claims and objections” now raised by the Coalition are frivolous and immaterial to the outcome. It must be recalled that the Center did report that Mingo’s declarations were illegal, since they did not follow the legally prescribed tabulation process.
In conclusion, no amount of whitewashing will erase the fact that the Coalition tried many blatant and shameful acts, not only to illegally hold on to power, but to barefacedly rig the 2020 Elections.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
