…admits discrepancies likely to surface

ADMITTING ahead of the national recount that discrepancies are likely to surface, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Executive Member Anil Nandlall vehemently objected to a two- pronged system established by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the contents of all of the ballot boxes to be scrutinised.

According to the approved Operational Plan, the recount will comprise two main elements: an assessment of the documents found in the ballot boxes to determine credibility, and an assessment and review and count of all ballots. “A review of key documents is imperative to establish that the number of ballots found in the box accord with the number of electors who appeared to have voted at the polling station,” GECOM explained in a ‘Guidance Note’ to the political parties on Saturday when they met at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) to discuss the national recount.

The documents to be reviewed include the number of electors struck off as voted – marked on the List of Electors; the number of ballots added through intermixing the ballots of the Disciplined Forces and those of non-residents; the number of electors who voted by use of Certificates of Employment and the number of ballot counterfoils (ascertains used ballots).the ballots

But Nandlall on behalf of the PPP/C questioned GECOM’s decision to scrutinise the documents found in the ballot boxes before the ballots are counted. For him, such a system is unnecessary and would only lead to undue delay.

“Why are you expanding the scope of the process [to] check off things like the List of Electors who were ticked [off] by the presiding officers? What is the purpose of that? Why are you going to open envelopes of unused ballots and count it?” Nandlall questioned, in an interview with reporters outside of the Convention Centre. According to him, the PPP/C canvased for a recount of the ballots and nothing else.

Nandlall, in iterating his position that only the ballots should be counted, argued that that section of the Operational Plan (Work Plan) is inconsistent with Section 89 (2) of the Representation of the People Act. “Why are we running in a collision course with the law? Why not recount the ballots, isn’t that what we are asking for, a recount of the ballots cast by the electorate? Why are we going to examine the whole process of elections?

You are bound to find irregularities. That to me is creating a platform for unnecessary queries to be raised because we are embarking on a scope of a process that is so wide that it was never intended. We asked for a recount. GECOM agreed to a recount. The President and Jagdeo agreed to a recount. Why are we doing all these things, to create platforms for queries to be made, for objections to be made, to derail the process to the end,” Nandlall lamented.

He submitted that there is a possibility that there may have been “errand [sic] or delinquent” presiding officers who may not have accurately ticked off the names of persons who voted, and as such give rise to discrepancies. According to him, there is no clear plan for reconciliation of discrepancies. “In fa,ct the work plan does not determine what mechanism is in place or is going to be used to reconcile any dispute as they may arise, as they are likely to arise in the process,” the PPP/C executive said.

But according to the Operational Plan (Work Plan), if errors or anomalies are detected, comments and observations will be recorded on the Observation Report by the counting clerk. Further to that, in the Guidance Note, there is a three-tier system that would be used to resolve issues that may arise during the recount. “The CARICOM high-level team will provide advice to the team supervisor of the workstation. If there is still doubt on any matter related to the recount, the advice received will be reviewed by the chief elections officer. If the issue remains unresolved it will be referred to the Commission for final determination,” the note states.

Elections Commissioner Charles Corbin also referrred to the three-tier system and the Observation Report when he was approached by reporters. He emphasised that the elections commission will pronounce on matters that were not resolved on the lower tiers, but made it clear that it is important to check off the documents within the ballot boxes.

Will the PPP/C accept the results of the recount given its reservations? Nandlall, in response to the question posed, said it depends on what happens. “If we feel that the process is fraudulent, has been comprised [sic], then we will have to cross that bridge when we reach it,” he said, while expressing the hope that the party’s concerns are addressed before GECOM gazettes the order for the recount to be initiated.

“We have to wait and see how the process unfolds and what comes out of the process…At this stage we are committed to the process [but] let us see how much of our concerns will be addressed, and let us see how many will not be addressed and then we will begin to address the integrity of the process at that time,” Nandlall said, while noting that the party has no sinister motive.

But A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Executive Member and Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson questioned the PPP/C’s reluctance to having the documents in the ballot boxes assessed for credibility of the count. Patterson submitted that assessments of the documents in the ballot boxes will only lend to the credibility of the recount, noting that it is not a mere numerical recount.

“Their contention is that we should only check the mark on the ballot to ascertain who the person voted for as opposed the actual ballot [but] what I understand and what GECOM has contained in here (the guidance note) is that there are certain safety features on every ballot, and that they will be scanning each and every one of them,” Patterson said.

He pointed out that in the 2015 General and Regional Elections, 19 fake Statements of Poll were detected, and as such, this time around no stone should be left unturned. Patterson said the APNU+AFC is confident that it will be vindicated by the recount.