APPROVAL for a recount of votes cast at several polling stations in the 10 electoral districts, as requested by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), was granted late yesterday afternoon by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).The ruling party made the request for recounts at approximately 90 polling stations in three regions late Tuesday night and a further request for recounts in the remaining seven regions was made yesterday after additional discrepancies in the electoral process were brought to light.
Party member, Priya Manickchand, at a news conference held at Freedom House yesterday made it clear that the issue at hand is not one of merely winning the 2015 General and Regional Elections, but guarding against the threats to democracy.
NOT FREE FROM FEAR
She stressed that while many stakeholders in the electoral process have publicly judged the process as free and fair; in reality it was not “free from F-E-A-R.”

While the leadership of the PPP/C remains confident of a win in these elections, Manickchand stressed that allowing the electoral discrepancies to pass, for the sake of a ‘win,’ will find Guyana back into the abyss from which the Guyanese people have struggled to climb over the last two decades.
She contends that PPP/C officials were prevented from doing their jobs during the counting, election day staffers did not do their jobs in a professional manner as required and reports of these, as well as other infractions made by the party were not given the attention they deserved by GECOM.
“These reports were not made for the sake of reporting,” Manickchand said.
Other problems, according to the PPP/C, which were documented and forwarded to GECOM include: misdirection by some GECOM staffers who advised voters, 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 to use their proxies, among others.
According to Manickchand, tactics of fear, intimidation and bullyism were employed on Monday, May 11, to disrupt the electoral process.
When questioned on how widespread the infractions were, she explained that several reports from party agents have come to the party leadership’s attention.
On this basis, the PPP/ C member added a question of her own, “Should we accept this?” she said, adding that any count of votes done in an atmosphere of “fear” ought not to be accepted by the Guyanese people.
“Fear was created,” Manickchand said, adding that she personally made a report to a Carter Centre observer whom she met while moving around Region 5 (Demerara/ Mahaica) in her capacity as an Assistant Election Agent (AEA).
Relative to the query of whether or not acts of intimidation were reported to the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the PPP/C executive member explained that reports were not made because the offending persons could not be identified and, since the priority was to ensure that persons turned out to vote, there was no push to stop the task at hand to make a report to the police.
WITHIN THE LAW
Meanwhile, another PPP/C member, Anil Nandlall, was emphatic that the ruling party’s request was made within legal and constitutional frameworks.
He cited Section 84 of Chapter 103 of the Representation of the People Act as one such example and stated that recounts can be requested as late as noon on the day after the returning officers have made their declarations of a final tally.
“The time for a recount has not passed,” he said, while rubbishing what he termed “misinformation” being peddled on this matter.
According to him, the discrepancies in the electoral process have resulted in one major problem: the rejection of ballots.
“We have seen an unusually high number of rejected ballots,” he said.
Nandlall said that the electoral process is a three-pronged one that involves voting, counting and the verification of those counts – a process that has not yet been concluded in its entirety.
He also debunked claims that legal action is being advanced to prevent the legal declaration of the results of the 2015 General and Regional Elections.
“We do not want to delay the results…we are executing our legal rights,” Nandlall said.
He, like Manickchand, also appealed to the Guyanese people to maintain peace and order and await the official results from the 2015 General and Regional Elections.
Both PPP/C members made it clear that the results of the 2015 polls must reflect the will of the Guyanese people. Out of a total of 570,787 registered voters and some 2,299 polling stations, with the voter turnout standing at 7.5 per cent.

By Vanessa Narine