REMINISCENT of the 1964 elections, the May 11 General and Regional elections suffered the same fate as the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) declared that the just-concluded elections have been “shamelessly rigged”.Speaking at a press conference yesterday, PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee maintained: “The PPP/C has been a victim of the shamelessly rigged elections.”
The May 11 elections, he disclosed, is a resurrection of the 1964 elections, where the PPP/C suffered the same fate, which in turn left Guyana to fall drastically under the leadership of the People’s National Congress (PNC).
According to Rohee, “at the conclusion of 1964 elections, having being cheated out of office the party declared that it was cheated but not defeated, as on this occasion we still believe that we have been cheated but no defeated.”
“The PPP/C has never lost free and fair elections, and we maintain our position on the fact that we can never lose at a free and fair elections,” said Rohee.
He said further that it is quite obvious that the elections were not free and fair although it appeared to be.

GECOM’S INTRANSIGENT POSITION
From the very outset, he said, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) adopted an intransigent position in respect to calls by the PPP/C for public vetting of GECOM officials who were selected to work on Elections Day.
The PPP/C wrote GECOM, pointing out a number of cases where either Presiding Officers (PO) or Poll Clerks (PC) worked either as scrutineers or polling agents with the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in the 2011 elections, and resurfaced once again this time as POs and PCs for the 2015 elections.
Rohee said that although GECOM assured the PPP/C that the POs and PCs will not be reemployed, they were. “There is a strong possibility of collusion by PO and Returning Officers (RO) according to the Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, as the penetration of false, fictitious Statement of Polls (SOP)s appeared to be widespread on an undetermined scope and scale, therefore, this means that the system has been corrupted and we have expressed our strong view over this to no avail.”

MESSAGE TO SUPPORTERS
Meanwhile apart from that, the PPP/C has extended their praise to their supporters who have remained steadfast throughout the history of the struggles of the Party at every elections even before 1992, as they (the Party) has been inspired by members and supporters to whom they owe their gratitude for always being victorious.
“We are calling on you all to remain calm and prepare for the new phase of struggles that will open with the new situation that has emerged within the past few hours,” the PPP/C General Secretary said. (Navendra Seoraj)