…as Region Four votes finally declared

After more than a week of confrontations and legal actions, the votes for District Four for the General and Regional Elections were finally declared by the Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo on Friday night, amid heavy police presence at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) High Street, Kingston Headquarters.

According to the declaration, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) secured the highest number of votes in both the General and Regional Elections followed by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

In the General Elections, APNU+AFC secured 136, 057 votes in District 4 (Demerara-Mahaica), while the PPP/C raked in 77, 231 votes. A New United Guyana (ANUG) secured the third largest number of votes with 1,387 votes, followed by Change Guyana with 919 votes; Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) with 761 votes and The Citizenship Initiative, 463 votes. The People’s Republic Party got 389 votes and The New Movement (TNM) 128 votes while the United Republican Party only managed to rake in 90 votes.

Meanwhile, in the Regional Elections, the APNU+AFC secured 130, 289 votes while the PPP/C raked in 74, 877 votes. Change Guyana received 914 votes while 752 votes were cast in favor of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP); 401 in favor of the People’s Republic Party; 125 in favor of the Victory of the People Party and 98 votes in favor of the United Republican Party.

Notably, the votes declared by Mingo vary from his initial declaration, which has since been nullified by the High Court over breach of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03. In initial declaration, Mingo had indicated that the APNU+AFC secured 136, 458 votes in the General Elections and the PPP/C 77, 329. In the case of the Regional Elections, it was indicated that the APNU+AFC had secured 136, 335 votes and the PPP/C 77, 258 votes. It is not sure what may be the cause for the variation in votes.

Nonetheless, the Returning Officer made significant headways in tabulating the Statements of Poll (SOPs) for his Electoral District on Friday after Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire offered clarity on what was required during the tabulation process.

Since the March 2 General and Regional Elections, the tabulation process for Region 4 was marred with a series of events, from the Returning Officer and his staff falling sick, to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic storming the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) command center, to an injunction barring the declaration of the results and subsequently, a series of objections.

Last Wednesday, the Chief Justice invalidated the March 5 declaration made by Mingo after it was found that he had tabulated the SOPs in the absence of persons entitled to be present as outlined in Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act. But one day after she handed down her ruling, the process was again suspended following a series of objections on Thursday, and Contempt of Court proceedings were later filed by the PPP/C through a private citizen. However, there was breakthrough in the process on Friday afternoon after the matter was again addressed by the Chief Justice.

Moments after the declaration of the results was made by Mingo at around 23:00hrs on Friday, Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander expressed satisfaction that the process had finally ended, and was conducted in the presence of party agents and observers as prescribed by the law.

In an earlier interview with the press that night outside of GECOM’s Headquarters, where the tabulation had been moved to, Alexander said the process was being done in keeping with the ruling of the High Court.

“The procedure is that they are putting up the Statements of Poll on a screen and a GECOM officer is reading out the numbers and that’s the process,” he explained on Friday night.
Earlier in the day, Chief Justice had explained that the Statements of Poll had to be displayed during the tabulation process in keeping with Section 85 of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03.

Representatives from the PPP/C and a number of smaller parties have alleged that though the process appeared more transparent that it had been earlier and days gone by, not all of the SOPs appeared legitimate.

“Since I have been in there, I have not heard any discrepancy raised, that does not mean there is no discrepancy,” Alexander said in response to a question put to him about discrepancies being raised by some party agents.

Alexander said based on his knowledge, the original SOPs were being used while shutting down claims of photocopied SOPs being used.

“I don’t know about photocopied SOPs being used for this reason, SOPs came in books of four. One would have written on the first copy, and that would have printed through to the remaining three copies. I don’t know if you would call it photocopied in that sense,” he reasoned.

Questioned whether the SOPs displayed on the screen were clear, Alexander responded in the affirmative but said that they could have been clearer. “When I said could be clearer, I am not seeing alteration. What I am seeing, is not the clearest of images but it is a question of technology,” he further clarified.

Contrary to reports by the PPP nominated Commissioners, Alexander said there has been no violation of the electoral laws. “As I understand it, there is an obligation to do a tabulation in the view of the persons who are entitled to be there, to the extent to which one throws up a screen, and the numbers they put up there, at the end, the summation, represent that tabulation,” he posited.

However, he explained that if party agents have concerns over discrepancies, they could make note of them and at the end of the tabulation when the declaration is made, formally request a recount of the votes.

But although the SOPs were being produced during the tabulation process in accordance with the High Court ruling, PPP/C nominated Elections Commissioner Robeson Benn said the opposition will challenge the results. According to him, the opposition parties will likely request a recount. Outside of the GECOM headquarters, pockets of APNU+AFC supporters gathered at different streets as they awaited news of the declaration.