GUYANA’s electoral process, like processes across the world, involves three stages – voting, counting and tabulation of results, and verification by Returning Officers (ROs) that leads to a final declaration.And having observed voting on May 11, electoral observer missions in Guyana have publicly deemed the 2015 General and Regional Elections as free and fair – a declaration that has not gone down well with the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and other civil society factions.
PREMATURE
The consensus from these major stakeholders in the electoral process was premature, given the number of documented irregularities brought to the fore by the PPP/C and admissions that Statements of Polls (SoPs) were falsified and managed to get pass security barriers of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
While GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, contends that no false SoPs were included in the tabulations done so far, the verification process done by the Commission’s Returning Officers (ROs), in the presence of party agents, do not reconcile. Instead, the findings indicate that votes for the political Opposition (APNU+AFC) were increased through machinations still to be investigated, while votes for the PPP/C were decreased.
As recent as yesterday, the representatives of the ABC countries – United States of America (USA), Britain and Canada – in a joint statement maintain their position that the elections were free and fair.
The U.S. Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires, Bryan Hunt; Canadian High Commissioner, Dr. Nicole Giles; and British High Commissioner, Gregory Quinn, said, “The Embassy of the United States of America and the High Commissions of the United Kingdom and Canada wish to reiterate our strong and considered opinion that the voting and tabulation processes in the Guyanese national and regional elections were free, fair, and credible.”
While the joint statement was released just after 15:00hrs yesterday afternoon, the verification process done by the Commission’s Returning Officers was still ongoing in some regions.
Notable, was the fact that the three members of the diplomatic corps (dubbed in some quarters as ‘the three musketeers’) acknowledged that there were irregularities. However, they insist that this was not material enough to have an impact on the final results of the 2015 polls.

“Despite investigating, in collaboration with other observer missions, repeated allegations of irregularities, we have found nothing that would materially impact the integrity or credibility of the process,” the three high ranking envoys said.
QUESTION OF CREDIBILITY
All considered, questions were posed to the leadership of the PPP/C and the general concurrence is that the issue at hand is a matter of credibility.
President Donald Ramotar, at a news conference held at Freedom House yesterday, insisted that the credibility of these missions are at stake and legitimate concerns that could materially impact the elections results must be addressed.
In that case, he insists that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must “go to the box” (ballot boxes) to ensure that the process is one that is free, fair and credible, as well as free from fear.
“This election here now, also goes to the integrity of the observers that are involved. If they gave a clean bill of health to an election that is clearly rigged, I don’t know if anybody would want them in their country to observe any election…this is in their interest too, for their integrity, so I hope that we get a recount of the ballots,” Mr. Ramotar said.
The Guyanese Head of State, on that note, also responded to the British High Commissioner who, yesterday, supported the GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer’s position that the ‘falsified’ SoPs were not included in the count which produced the preliminary results released on Thursday night.
“The fact that the Guyana Elections Commission itself found the so-called fake statements of poll and did not include them in the count is encouraging and should be seen in a positive light. This means that GECOM’s systems worked as they were designed to,” Quinn said.

The President’s rejoinder was an emphatic, “If he did say so he is dead wrong about this information.”
Additionally, former president Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, on Wednesday night, said: “Ultimately, they have to understand that if they certify an election that is not free and fair and that the results were determined by fraud – because whether we get the remedy now or in the post-election period through a petition and we provide our case – the credibility of the international community is at risk here too.”
PPP/C member, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, also addressed this matter, yesterday.
“The integrity of this whole process has been called into questions…they (international observers) are talking about what happened on Elections Day. Elections are more than what happened on Election Day. It is also about what happens after the voting was done,” he stressed.
According to him, the irregularities reflect a pattern. “Let’s check the boxes,” he declared.
GECOM’s numbers indicated that APNU+AFC secured some 206,817 votes in the General elections, while the PPP/C received the support of 201,457 voters in the May 11 national polls. At the regional elections, the PPP/C gained some 198,148 votes, while APNU+AFC leads with 201,324.
Notably, at both the General and Regional Elections, the PPP/C secured the greatest level of support in six electoral districts – Regions 1 (Barima/Waini), 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam), 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), 5 (Mahaica/Berbice), 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) and 9 (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo).
If the preliminary results are upheld, APNU+AFC is expected to secure 33 seats in the National Assembly, while the PPP/C takes away 32 seats.

By Vanessa Narine