CONCERNS raised by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) without success were taken to another level yesterday by way of the staging of a protest march outside the Commission’s High Street, Kingston head office.

Placards borne by scores of PPP/C supporters screamed a number of objections, including: ‘These elections were not free and fair’; ‘Where did the fake SoPs (Statements of Poll) come from’; ‘Recount the votes, this is no joke’; ‘We need impartiality from GECOM’; ‘Shame on the diplomats from the ABC (United States of America, Britain, Canada) countries’; ‘Surujbally must go’; and ‘PPP/C were cheated, but we are not defeated.’

Although the words ‘peaceful protest’ were clearly visible on the clothing of protestors, yet still a strong presence of armed ranks from the Disciplined Services was seen on the sidelines of the marching band of PPP/C supporters. There was also a small group of persons standing nearby, some shouting counter protests.
Undaunted, however, PPP/C leader Mr. Donald Ramotar led the march, his placard reading: ‘Surujbally is not a fair man. You refused to count my vote. My vote must count.’
He was joined not only by party supporters, but also by former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and several former government ministers and PPP/C leaders to protest “fraudulent elections” that delivered “fraudulent” results to the Guyanese people.

RIGGED ELECTIONS
Speaking to the media, he stressed that the protest actions will continue “for as long as it takes” to ensure that the wrong of the 2015 General and Regional Elections are righted.
The wrongs highlighted by the PPP/C last week include: The discovery of falsified Statements of Poll (SoP); GECOM’s refusal 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; 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 denying proxy holders the use their proxies, among others.

Stressing that evidence of irregularities is clear, Mr. Ramotar said, “People are coming out, they are feeling cheated, it is the wrong basis for which a Government should begin, because the Government does not represent the interest of the people.”
He added that the coalesced A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) has already been party to the “worst form of corruption” in the country – that of rigged elections.
The PPP/C leader made no bones about highlighting the fact that while international observers have pronounced that the elections were free and fair, they were “duped,” since they did not look at GECOM’s machinery for fraudulent acts, but at the voting process – considering the mechanisms used in the past to manipulate elections in Guyana.
“The elections were rigged in different ways…it was rigged on the road by GECOM…it was rigged within GECOM itself…these manipulations took place by many of the returning officers,” Ramotar said.

RECOUNT DEMANDED
All things considered, the PPP/C is maintaining its full demand for a total recount of the votes cast on May 11.
“The Government in place now does not reflect the will of the Guyanese people and if they are interested in legitimacy, they should agree to a recount,” Mr. Ramotar said.
Given that the election results have been officially declared, the PPP/C is advancing legal action to have a recount ordered by Guyana’s courts.
Former Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, commenting on this move, explained that evidence is being compiled to support an Elections Petition, which will be filed in the High Court.
“The Court will order the recount, because it is my expectation that we will put enough evidence to the court to show that these elections should be vitiated, that there were material irregularities that would have materially changed the results declared,” he said.
Declining to comment on an exact number, Nandlall stressed that in the absence of the irregularities flagged by the PPP/C, the party would have won the elections by “thousands” and not have lost by a small margin of just over 4,000 votes. “We would have won the elections by several thousands. I don’t want to discuss the figure,” he said.

STRUGGLE CONTINUES
Additionally, General Secretary Clement Rohee who also spoke to the Guyana Chronicle, noted that the PPP/C is seeking justice for the “slap in the face of democracy” that was perpetuated [sic] by the 2015 General and Regional Elections.
“We want justice,” he stressed.
The former prime minister also commented on the PPP/C’s current struggle and maintained that there were irregularities in the process that saw the party not being represented as the Government of Guyana, which were not given the attention required by GECOM.
New faces that were on the 2015 PPP/C campaign trail, including Charles Ramson Jr. and Africo Selman, were also part of yesterday’s protest.
Selman told members of the media that she stands firm in her convictions and will continue to support the PPP/C, even if it means that the party advances its struggle from the Opposition benches of the National Assembly.
“I would prefer to serve in a PPP Opposition and represent the people of Guyana than to be associated with dishonest people, cheaters and persons who would accept results knowing very well those are not the results,” she said.
Chants of ‘Who must go, Surujbally must go’, ‘Steve, it’s time to leave’, ‘Count the votes’ and ‘What is GECOM hiding’ echoed as the protest action wound up.
Similar protests were mounted in other regions earlier this week and are expected to continue next week.
GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally, when asked to comment on the protest action told the Guyana Chronicle that the PPP/C has the right to protest.
The PPP/C members are also engaged in country-wide public meetings to update its supporters on a number of important issues of national importance, as well as to outline how the next stages of its current, albeit familiar, struggle for the preservation of democracy will proceed.

 
By Vanessa Narine