On E-Day, 2339 Statements of Poll (SoPs) confirmed the PPP had won and Guyana was ready to move on from President David Granger to President Irfaan Ali. Today, the SoPs are being replaced by Statements of Recount (SoRs). The SoRs have so far confirmed what the SoPs concluded on the evening of March 2 – Irfaan Ali is the new President and the PPP is the new government of Guyana. The SoPs were clear. The SoRs now affirm the truth – the President of Guyana is Irfaan Ali and there must be no further delay in swearing him in.
By early Tuesday morning, March 3, both major political parties (PPP and APNU+AFC), GECOM, the local and international observers, the new political parties, the media, knew the results of the elections. Everyone knew by then that the PPP had won a resounding victory, repeating its overwhelming victories at the 2016 and 2018 local government elections. Everyone knew then that David Granger had served as a one-term President. Everyone knew by early March 3 that Guyana had a new President – Dr Irfaan Ali – and a new Prime Minister – Mark Philips.
The PPP and APNU+AFC and GECOM knew the results because each had copies of 2339 SoPs prepared by GECOM on the evening of E-Day, March 2. Sometime soon after midnight, both political parties had in their possession somewhere in their logistical infrastructure all 2339 SoPs. At the national command centers for both parties, the results were already being tabulated and the results were making clear who had won and who had lost the elections. Local and international observers were present throughout Guyana and had taken pictures of these SoPs. The new political parties had begun accumulating copies of SoPs for stations where they were not present.
It was not rocket science – no one needed to await an announcement from GECOM to know the results. GECOM’s announcement was the formalization of what everyone knew. That GECOM has mismanaged and played games with the results have led to a recount. The recount (with more than 75 percent completion) has so far confirmed, with no material change, the results contained in the SoPs. Three months have elapsed and GECOM shamefully has shown no urgency to get to the results. It is still playing games.
APNU+AFC which falsely insisted it won the elections, now has moved to alleging fraud during the elections. It is alleging that almost 100,000 votes were fraudulent votes. It is alleging that the votes of the disciplinary services were not counted. Their fraud allegations are themselves fraudulent. In law, in Guyana and in the world, “those who assert, must prove”. This has always been so. When Justice Claudette Singh stated this two weeks ago, she was not making up her own law, her own principle, this has been a truth in history around the world. But in Guyana’s 2020 elections, such legal, well-founded, well-established legal principles are being thrown out of the window. While Justice Singh is looking for evidence for hearsay allegations, she conveniently ignores the Mingo fraud committed in front of the world.
One allegation made by APNU+AFC is that “thousands who now live abroad voted in Guyana’ elections”. They provide no proof, other than insisting people in the communities told them so. They submitted as evidence a list of only 207 to Justice Claudette Singh on May 21. Justice Singh, a judge for decades, did not ask for proof from APNU+AFC. She did not remind them it was not her or GECOM’s responsibility to go frolicking around looking for evidence. Instead, she personally, without ever seeking the approval of GECOM, asked the Police Commissioner to help her find evidence. The Police Commissioner responded that 172 persons on the list were not in the country.
But now persons from that list of 172 are coming forward that they were in the country on March 2, showing their passports that they have never been out of Guyana, never travelled outside of this country. APNU+AFC has previously admitted its list is hearsay. The big question is how come two persons steeped in the workings of the law – a former Judge and a Police Commissioner – have acted so expeditiously on mere hearsay? And how come the Police Commissioner asserts evidence that is so blatantly fraudulent?
Clearly, there are forces bent on ensuring the will of the people is denied. The Prime Minister of Barbados, on behalf of Caricom, is convinced of this. The ABCE countries are equally convinced of this. The OAS, the Commonwealth, the Carter Center, the IRI, the local observers are all convinced of this. By the end of today, more than 85 percent of the ballots cast in the March 2 elections would have been reexamined and recounted. All of the ballots recounted so far have confirmed the accuracy of the results contained in the SoPs from E-Day. We must not allow APNU+AFC to derail the will of the people. We must not allow GECOM to be complicit in thieving Guyana’s elections. Time is long past for swearing in the new President, President Irfaan Ali.
