“ENOUGH focus was not placed on the machinery itself and that caused the mistake, in our view, of declaring the elections free and fair,” declared leader of the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration, Mr Donald Ramotar.A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) scored a close victory in the General and Regional Elections with 207,200 votes, while the PPP/C secured the support of 202,694 Guyanese who cast their votes in its favour.

The result of the elections declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GCEOM) is being challenged by the PPP/C, after several irregularities in the electoral process were flagged by the party.
Mr Ramotar said, “What is new in this election is that the machinery itself was corrupted, they have managed to corrupt the machinery itself in this instance.”
He explained that the manipulation of the elections machinery was evidenced in: the discovery of falsified Statements of Poll (SoP); the refusal of GECOM to have public vetting of polling day staffers, many of whom were discovered to be activists of the political Opposition; misdirection by some GECOM staffers who advised voters; incidents of multiple voting; incidents where persons turned up at polling stations and were told they had voted already; damaged stamps that saw some ballots not being properly stamped; the fact that persons without identification cards were allowed to vote, even though their images did not match those in the files of GECOM staff; and the denial of proxy holders the use of their proxies, among others.
“The machinery is expected to be the one that is neutral,” Mr Ramotar stressed.
GECOM THE PROBLEM
Meanwhile, former president Dr Bharrat Jagdeo made similar observations, and charged that GECOM is the “source” of the problem.

“GECOM has been the source of the problem; we believe it was a sinister motive,” he said.
On the basis of the discovered irregularities, recounts were requested before and after the official declarations were made, but these were rejected. Also not yet granted was the PPP/C’s request for the SoPs, Tally Sheets and a breakdown of results of each Polling Division or ballot boxes. Recounts as well as the release of the SoPs, Tally Sheets and a breakdown of results of each Polling Division or ballot boxes are still being demanded by the PPP/C.
Dr Jagdeo said, “It was a plot; that is why they refused our legitimate request for a recount. It’s only when you aggregate, add up the box-by-box result you can come up with a total; and they are refusing now to give us the box- by-box total because there is a fear that when we have our SoPs and look at the box-by-box results they used that there will be a difference; and they will be hard-pressed to explain those differences.”
He highlighted the fact that the inconsistences about which the PPP/C raised concerns ought to have triggered an immediate investigation, as would have obtained in any other country.
As such, the former president declared that GECOM’s disposition points to a possible cover up.
He also concluded that the current administration is a “de facto government” that was birthed out of fraud and a questionable electoral process.

OBSERVERS DUPED
Both leaders contend that the electoral observer missions were duped and made premature pronouncements deeming the 2015 General and Regional elections “free and fair,” after observing the voting process – when indeed the electoral process involved voting, counting and verification before official results are declared.
“Many people would point out that the observers gave the elections a clean bill of health, but they did so even before the verification started on the polls, and therefore they did not have a chance, or they missed the new form of rigging,” Mr Ramotar said, adding:
“In the past, observers always looked at the machinery as the neutral partner… We believe that there was not a focus on the machinery itself, and that caused them [the observers] to make the mistake of declaring that these elections were free and fair. That is why we think they were duped; they were not looking where a huge amount of rigging took place, and that is within the GECOM machinery itself.”
NEXT MOVE
The PPP/Cs concerns are expected to be internationalised, with representation to be made to some 30 regional and international bodies.

“We’re going to make this international as well; we want to take this thing to the international level, so that governments around the world will know that the government of Guyana is not a government that reflects the will of the people in our country; we’re going to inform all the governments and international organisations of our position and our attitude as it relates to the government,” Ramotar declared.
Dr Jagdeo, also commenting on the party’s next move, made clear that the PPP/C will remain vigilant – in the interest of preventing the future desecration of Guyana’s hard-won democratic gains.
“We are remaining vigilant; over the next week or two, we’ll discuss our attitude to the new government and our approach to Parliament. But in the meantime, we’ll be busy working on our election petition, reaching out to people, internationalizing the issue, and mobilizing people so that we’ll return to office,” he said.
The election petition is expected to be filed soon and will detail the PPP/C’s challenge of the 2015 election results, supported by necessary documentation. The GECOM Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally, has indicated that the Commission is ready to defend its declaration of the results. Additionally, protest actions have been mounted across coastal regions outside GECOM offices.

By Vanessa Narine