The Private Sector Commission (PSC) has expressed disappointment over the response it received from the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh, in relation to its request for the disclosure of all copies of the Statements of Poll (SoPs).
PSC Chairman Gerry Gouveia
On Thursday, the PSC wrote Justice Singh asking that copies of all SoPs of every District be released to the Commission, and further proposed that scanned copies be made available to all of the contesting political parties.
However, in response, the GECOM Chair informed the Private Sector body that same day that: “While I understand your request is intended to contribute meaningfully to the process, you would be aware that this matter is currently engaging the attention of the Court… In this regard, any further action on this subject would be dependent on the decision of the Court.”
Justice Singh further reminded the PSC that Section 83 (9) of the Representation of People Act specifies the statutory officers to be issued with SoPs at the close of poll and the alternative mechanism for other interested groups or persons to obtain the information contained therein.
GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh
The GECOM Chair had responded to the PSC on Thursday and the following day, the High Court refused an application for GECOM to produce copies of SoPs from District Four, where there have been controversy surrounding the tabulation process and “credible allegations” of fraud from most of the parties that contested the elections, and even the observers – who are all pushing for a recount of the votes cast in the region.
That recount was halted after APNU/AFC candidate Ulita Moore secured an injunction, blocking GECOM from conducting the process. The matter is currently engaging the courts.
But according to the PSC on Friday, it “…is disappointed at the response received from the Chairman of GECOM to its request… in claiming that any action on her part on this matter is dependent on the decision of the Court, where the matter is currently being engaged.”
The PSC noted that this request was made as an accredited local observer and on the basis of what had obtained at the November 2011 General and Regional Elections. It pointed out that GECOM voluntarily released the SoPs then to all of the contesting parties after the credibility of the tabulation of the election results was questioned by then Opposition party, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – the majority party of the caretaker coalition Government.
PSC Chairman, Caption Gerry Gouveia, told Guyana Times that the conduct of GECOM nearly 10 years ago had set a precedent. In fact, he noted that when APNU had raised concerns about the 2011 result, the PSC had also represented the party’s position to the Elections Commission for the release of the statements – which contain information on voters from each polling station.
“So, what we’re asking GECOM to do is exactly the same thing. We’re asking GECOM to just do what they did in 2011 … You see transparency and democracy goes hand in hand, and anybody that is arguing against transparent and democratic process is on the wrong side. Anybody that is arguing against transparency and a democratic election is on the wrong side. We feel very strongly that GECOM should be able to share their Statements of Poll with the accredited observers. I don’t know why is it that GECOM is keeping these Statements of Poll like it is a state secret. These SoPs are public documents,” Gouveia argued.
The PSC further outlined in the missive on Friday that from its own observation, that its request for the SoPs was in the interest of providing credible public disclosure of the results of the elections. This is in light of the fact that the Private Sector body is perfectly satisfied that the SoPs used by the Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, in tabulating the results of the current elections in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) were never established as authentic and were not verified in a transparent manner as directed by the Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George.
The PSC’s request for the release of the SoPs for Region Four comes some two weeks after a similar request was made by one of the international organisations that had fielded a large observation mission to monitor Guyana’s elections.
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) had written the Returning Officer requesting the SoPs which he had used to prepare the spreadsheet of results during the contentious tabulation process. That request too was not granted.
