THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), now in the political Opposition, says it has collected — and will continue to collect — further evidence to file an elections petition in relation to its allegation of wide-scale rigging at the recently concluded General and Regional Elections.The Donald Ramotar-led Administration was, this past week, ousted by the coalesced A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), led by now elected Head of State, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger.

The PPP/C, in a public missive yesterday, said it remains resolute in preparing its dossier as it forges ahead in filing its election petition.

The PPP/C has alleged collusion on the part of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
The Opposition party yesterday sought to remind that, prior to the May 11th General and Regional Elections, it raised concerns both publicly and privately with the GECOM Chairman, Commission and Secretariat, the advance assessment teams of the UN, Commonwealth and the Carter Centre, the diplomatic community, and subsequently with the international observer missions with regard to the partiality of the GECOM machinery.

The party maintains the recruitment of polling staff connected to the APNU+AFC coalition was known, and said the PPP/C consistently raised its concerns publicly, months before, during the recruitment and training periods.

It said, “Fears were also expressed about the removal of the foreign IT (Information Technology) Specialist at a critical time, just two weeks before the elections; and the denial of requests for public disclosures of GECOM Elections Day staff.”

The PPP/C argues that this lack of transparency and unwillingness to enhance public trust and confidence by GECOM in the face of blatant infiltration of the machinery by known APNU+AFC activists is an indictment.

The PPP/C says its public positions were supported with conclusive evidence that a number of irregularities were carried out on elections day and the period immediately thereafter, particularly in regard to multiple voting and creation of fraudulent and fictitious Statements of Poll, among other transgressions, to such an extent that any government formed on the basis of declared results would not reflect the will of the people of Guyana.

“Our position remains the same today in the face of the refusal of GECOM to conduct the recount of a close-finish race; the PPP/C considers the APNU-AFC Government as de facto coming in on fraudulent elections.”

GECOM has declared that the 2015 General Elections were free and fair, and that any discrepancies that had been raised and investigated could not have affected the outcome of the tabulation of the votes. The GECOM position has the backing of all of the international observers. (Gary Eleazar)