APNU+AFC tells GECOM as it maintains that persons voted on behalf of the dead
…Commissioner Trotman to lobby full commission to investigate grave irregularities

IN a high-level meeting with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Saturday the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) said it has all the necessary evidence to support allegations that unscrupulous people voted not only on behalf of the dead, but also for Guyanese residing overseas.

Elections Commissioner Desmond Trotman strongly believes that these allegations should be investigated by the commission before the conclusion of the national recount. The high-level APNU+AFC delegation included Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally; Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence; Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Joseph Harmon; and APNU+AFC candidate and Attorney-at-Law, Roysdale Forde.

Substantial evidence
Moments after exiting the meeting, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the site for the national recount, Minister Ally told reporters that the coalition had informed the commission that it has substantial evidence to back its claims that persons voted for the dead and also for Guyanese who have long left these shores.

“I must tell you that we have been able to tender a number of death certificates for such an anomaly,” Minister Ally told reporters, but fell short of disclosing how many death certificates the APNU+AFC has submitted to GECOM since commencement of the recount of votes cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

Not rocket science

In shutting down reports that the APNU+AFC was abusing its powers in office to access people’s death certificates and immigration records, the Social Protection Minister, who is also the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) general secretary, said access to such documents is not rocket science. “Anybody could access a death certificate,” she said, while pointing out that death certificates can be secured from the General Register Office (GRO) at a cost of GUY$300.

Further to that, Minister Ally said that APNU+AFC did its homework heading into the 2020 General and Regional Elections. “We have done quite a lot of work in every nook and cranny of this country, and so we are aware of all those people who departed these shores, and did not come back. We also know who are the dead, and who were not in the country and they voted,” Minister Ally maintained.

Irregularities
Ally said to verify the information and documents tendered thus far, the elections commission could request information from the General Register Office and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Support Services.

But aside from “ghost voters,” the Social Protection Minister said other anomalies have been unearthed since the national recount commenced on May 6. These are the unsigned Affidavits or Oaths of Identities, missing poll books, and ballot boxes with no records only ballots alleged to have been cast. “There was a case in which only the ballots came and there were no records, and we are contending that that might very well be a fake box,” Ally posited.

Minister Ally, while noting that the coalition sought clarity on how the elections commission would be treating with the Observation Reports, said no commitment was given during Saturday’s meeting, but it is the APNU+AFC’s expectation that the issue at hand will be frontally addressed.

MATTERS FOR ELECTIONS PETITION
However, PPP/C-nominated Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj, while confirming that the APNU+AFC met with the commission, contended that the allegations being raised by the coalition ought not to be addressed during this recount. According to him, the issues raised by APNU+AFC are matters for the court by way of an Elections Petition.
“The court is the legal authority with the ability and wherewithal to enquire into that. I respectfully submit that is not GECOM that has that responsibility. GECOM does not have that responsibility,” Gunraj maintained.

Gunraj told reporters that no supporting evidence was tendered to the commission or the GECOM Secretariat by the APNU+AFC since the recount started. “You are hearing about a plethora or countless irregularities, but as we speak nothing has been forthcoming. Absolutely nothing has been forthcoming from that particular stakeholder in support of the allegations that are being raised,” Gunraj contended. According to him, on two occasions the APNU+AFC attempted to submit documents, but those were rejected at the level of the workstations.

The PPP/C executive member, in a separate interview, had echoed those sentiments, emphasising that the allegations levelled by the APNU+AFC are matters to be addressed via an Elections Petition, and not during the national recount.

ANOMALIES SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED
But APNU+AFC appointed Elections Commissioner Desmond Trotman, in a separate interview, told reporters that the APNU+AFC, in some cases, have submitted documents such as death certificates and immigration records to support their claims.
“I understand that the APNU+AFC did provide a few death certificates,” Trotman said, noting that in time to come, the coalition may be called upon to provide further evidence to the commission.

Trotman said that based on his understanding, the GECOM Secretariat, upon completion of the recount, will summarise the observations recorded throughout the exercise and submit a report to the commission. Unlike Gunraj, Trotman said anomalies with merit ought to be investigated.

“The commission will have to investigate these allegations before the process ends because this process is not merely about a recount. It is intended also to find out if the elections itself were credible, and so you have to take all of those factors into consideration to make a determination about credibility,” Trotman told reporters.

However, while clarifying that while the commission has not decided on how it will treat with the Observation Reports, Trotman made it known that he will lobby for allegations with merit to be investigated.

“If it is that you are talking about credibility, if you want to ascertain if the elections were credible, once you have information supported by proof that something went on, that shouldn’t have taken place, you have to look at it,” he submitted.

WE HAVE GONE PAST SOPs
Meanwhile, on the issue of Statements of Poll (SOPs), Minister Ally contended that such documents are irrelevant to the ongoing national recount, and as such the coalition will not be releasing its SOPs– at least not at this stage.

“The coalition is not a bedmate of Bruce Golding, and we don’t go hunting with him. We have gone past Statements of Poll. We are not dealing with Statements of Poll,” Minister Ally said in response to a question posed on whether APNU+AFC is prepared to make public the SOPs in its possession. While iterating that the issue of SOPs is water under the bridge, Minister Ally was keen on pointing out that the only SOPs that are authentic as those within the possession of GECOM.

“You can have a SOP. I can have a SOP. But let me tell you, prior to the announcements of these results the PPP, they already had their results prepared and published…and they made their SOPs in accordance to what they published,” Minister Ally contended.

Head of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Electoral Mission to Guyana, Bruce Golding, in offering a recent comparative analysis between results declared by Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo, and Statements of Recount published thus far by GECOM, had reported that the numbers were inflated in favour of the ruling APNU+AFC, but Minister Ally again dismissed Golding’s contention.

In echoing a position long established by President David Granger, Minister Ally said at the end of the recount, the APNU+AFC will accept results of the elections as declared by GECOM.