…Team Unity says results tainted, threatens legal action

PATRICK Yarde has been re-elected President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), according to results released by the union on Tuesday evening, but the team that challenged said the results are tainted and called it ‘robbery.’

The results revealed that Yarde attracted 1,024 votes to defeat his challenger Gregory Gaspar, who gained 842 votes. Though efforts to contact the President of the union proved futile, Yarde had expressed confidence that he would retain the position prior to announcement of the results.

On the other hand, Gaspar was speechless after seeing the results of the elections and refused to give a comment, but his supporters were boisterous and refused to accept the results. Gaspar’s supporters explained that the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Herman DeSouza, announced the results without consulting with anyone who was present at the union’s office at Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
Since the completion of the elections on April 27, 2017, persons have been camping outside of the office to ensure that there were no discrepancies. GPSU members had alleged that DeSouza did not complete the counting of the ballots and only seven of the 19 ballot boxes were counted. When contacted by the Guyana Chronicle, DeSouza nonetheless said that the results are official and all the boxes were counted.

For days, counting of the ballots was disrupted by disgruntled supporters of Gaspar who claimed that no Statements of Poll were issued them. Polling stations were set up in eight regions across the country and gave 3,663 eligible members a chance to cast their ballots.
Meanwhile, results also revealed that Dawn Gardner will take the seat as the first vice-president of the union after gaining 1148 votes; Trevor Daly will be the second vice-president with 1390 votes; and Samantha Fedee will be the third vice-president with 1089 votes.

The elections received many disruptions, for instance on April 20, Justice Nareshwar Harnanan had granted a temporary injunction blocking the elections after a motion was filed by Gaspar, the main challenger to incumbent President Patrick Yarde. The injunction granted was however discharged two days before the elections were held.
Late last evening, Gaspar and his supporters expressed disgust at the results that were announced. Gaspar stated that his supporters and team will not accept the results of the elections and are calling on other members of the union to come out and support them. “The results are not authentic, so we will not believe it until DeSouza comes out and tells us that himself,” said the presidential candidate.

In his May Day message, Yarde, who has been at the helm of the GPSU for decades, claimed that there was a massive political movement and other involvement in the union’s still to be declared elections. Yarde said that the ‘massive political involvement’ was with a “clear and determined assignment to create multiple divisions in the ranks of our members and to discredit and decapitate the leadership of the union. Our tenure of renewal in office as an executive being due in 2017 action was taken in accordance with our rules correctly and transparently to comply with this process in a most cost-effective and professional manner. While we were alerted and sensitive to certain irritants, we eventually recognised there was a massive political and other involvement in our elections process…”

This movement, Yarde said, has encountered difficulty and the failure to obstruct the holding of elections; orchestrated with intensified focus on misleading and threatening members, disrupting the counting of votes and undermining the credibility of the election process. “The instances of unprofessional, unethical conduct, overwhelming dishonesty and a vicious campaign to dislodge the serving leaders were evident and abominable. It is clear to your union leaders that we are faced with a situation to defend ourselves from an attacking element that we helped to create in the fight for justice, however unfortunate. We are confident that we can overcome this unwarranted assault, it has somewhat fragmented our union in an undesirable manner. However, we will not allow this misfortune to restrain our struggle for progress nor discourage us,” the GPSU head stated.

He said in eliminating “the obstacles in our way, we must mobilise now to confront the existing injustices in order to etch out a future that is built on fairness, justice and human rights. As a public-sector union, we recognise and are confident that we are integral to the foundation of a just and democratic society and that our fight is a fight for all. On behalf of the Executive Council, I extend best wishes to all workers for a Happy May Day 2017,” Yarde’s statement ended.