DECLARATION of results a week after Guyanese go to the polls is not what the ruling party is looking forward to, according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee.In 2011, the last General and Regional Eelections, the results were announced two and a half days after the November 28 vote.

“I have lived in this country where declaring the elections results takes more than a day or two and going into a week and the result was problems on the street. I am not looking forward to that,” he said at a news conference held yesterday at Freedom House.
The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, told the Guyana Chronicle that the Commission will not “breach the law” in the process of declaring the elections results.
Also, in a prior interview, he had made it clear that accuracy of the election results would not be sacrificed at the altar of expediency.
The PPP General Secretary acknowledged the Chairman’s position as a sentiment expressed to the party also.
Dr. Surujbally noted that there are several factors to be considered for an earlier than usual declaration of the election results.
Those factors, he said, include the fact that political parties have 12 hours after polls have been closed to call for a recount as they see fit, given that their representatives would have been present during the initial count.
The logistics of manoeuvring Guyana’s geography is another consideration, the GECOM Chairman disclosed.
“All the factors will be taken into consideration to get the results out,” he said.
GECOM has 16 days, legally, to officially declare the outcome of General and Regional Elections. (Vanessa Narine)