WITH a lead of over 5,000 votes, the political opposition, A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), is leading in the 2015 General and Regional elections race.However, the lead is shadowed by numerous reports of irregularities in the electoral process, voting and counting, all of which have been forwarded to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the observers.

GECOM’s numbers indicate that APNU+AFC secured some 206, 817 votes in the General elections, while the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) received the support of 201,457 voters in the May 11 national polls. In the regional elections, the PPP/C gained some 198,148 votes, while APNU+AFC leads with 201,324.
If the preliminary results are upheld, APNU+AFC is expected to secure 33 seats in the National Assembly, while the PPP/C will have 32.
Notably, at both the General and Regional Elections, the PPP/C secured the greatest level of support in six electoral districts: Regions 1 (Barima/ Waini), 2 (Pomeroon/ Supenaam), 3 (Essequibo/ Islands), 5 (Mahaica/ Berbice), 6 (East Berbice/ Corentyne) and Nine (Upper Takutu/ Upper Essequibo).
Out of a total of 570,787 registered voters, there was an average 71 per cent voter turnout, with 410,391 valid votes cast at the general elections and 402,145 valid votes cast at the regional elections.
Also, The United Force (TUF) is leading the five other political parties, contesting the General and Regional elections, with the largest support.

SUBJECT TO CHANGE
The Commission’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, at a news conference held yesterday at GECOM’s Command Centre, Kingston, stated that the preliminary results will be subject to the reconciliations and verifications being done by Returning Officers (ROs).
“I need to remind that this information is preliminary and subsets to follow will include in every district a reconciliation of the Statements of Polls by the Returning Officers and party agents,” he said.
According to Lowenfield, once the reconciliation is concluded and all are satisfied, the ROs will declare the final results and submit their declarations to the CEO, who will then make a final declaration of the results.
Noting that the process in most of the regions was not largely time-consuming, he stated that Region 4 (Demerara/ Mahaica) is expected to take some time, given the size of the electoral district.
The CEO made clear, however, that he does not expect the final declaration to result in significant changes to alter the outcome of the elections, a point of contention among stakeholders in the electoral process.
“All things being equal, we are supposed to be singing from the same hymn book; any variance, if there is any, will not be significant. That variance will not be significant to alter the outcome of the elections,” Lowenfield said.

SUSPICIOUS SoPs
Of concern was Lowenfield’s admission that false SoPs were submitted to GECOM, and that as many as 50 were detected.
According to him, these false documents were found “across the spectrum,” and not in any particular district.
The CEO added that special security features allowed GECOM to identify the documents as falsified.
The matter is reportedly being deliberated on at the level of the full Commission and Lowenfield assured the media that these did not form part of the recent preliminary numbers.
GECOM is expected to meet to review the final numbers before Lowenfield is authorised to release the final results.

By Vanessa Narine