THE Chronicle, on Sunday last, published an exclusive interview with President Donald Ramotar in which the President accused  APNU and the AFC of manipulating the results of last year’s general and regional elections and cheating the PPP/C of a majority victory. I am in agreement with this view as well. In this letter, I will examine several factors which all give credence to it.
For starters, on polling day GECOM had in excess of 2000 polling stations across the country which required staffing. In an effort to ensure integrity, it has often been the policy of this body to employ persons with no known political affiliation to man these centres and, as such, background checks are often done.
In the run-up to elections 2011, it was reported in various sections of the media that GECOM was having trouble recruiting the amount of persons needed to cover every polling station across the country, so in every likelihood this may have resulted in a relaxation of that policy, and therefore allowed for the penetration of the polling staff  by known APNU/AFC agents/activists.
There were many instances whereby persons who worked during continuous registration exercises in 2005/2006 and 2008/2009 as PNC scrutineers found themselves working as GECOM polling staff on elections day in 2011, and that should not have been the case.
Anyone with an understanding of how elections have been conducted since 1992 would understand the influence of GECOM polling day staff on the outcome of the elections. So when David Granger sought to convey the impression that it was impossible for his party to manipulate the results since ‘the opposition does not control  the process, he was fooling only himself.
I personally visited 35 polling stations thrice at various times of the day and cases of presiding officers and other GECOM staff misinterpreting the rules set out by that body were numerous. In some instances, GECOM- accredited PPP/C polling agents were prevented from functioning or even entering their designated places of poll.
At one polling station in an area where the PPP garners traditional support,  19 ballots were declared spoilt because the presiding officer failed to stamp each one with the six-digit stamp issued by GECOM. So it is easy for even the blind to decipher who truly controls a most integral aspect of the entire process.
Put its penetration of the GECOM polling day staff together with the combination of intimidation and misinformation, and you’ll be able to understand how this manipulation took place.
A whole host of  misinformation was peddled using Facebook, Blackberry Messenger, SMS Messages and emails emanating from a website registered to a known PNC operative which resulted in APNU supporters congregating at places of poll across the country. These persons were told that their presence was needed in order to ensure that the PPP did not perform its usual skulduggery.
What resulted was that PPP supporters were hounded, insulted and/or prevented from going to their places of poll in areas where the PNC, now APNU, obtains its traditional support. The architects of this campaign knew that this would’ve been the exact outcome.
In one South Georgetown ward a group of APNU supporters congregated outside a polling station located in the compound of a Primary School throughout the entire voting and counting processes. And I personally witnessed refreshments being prepared and distributed to them from the nearby home of a former PNC parliamentarian. This group was so disruptive and abusive that the police were forced to intervene on several occasions, often getting in between some of its members and PPP supporters whom they prevented from entering the place of poll.
Also Granger’s claim that Kwame Mc Coy and Odinga Lumumba attempted to invade polling stations near the close of poll are examples of the lies used by  APNU to create panic and fear, muster up their supporters to intimidate PPP supporters,   and cause harm to these individuals.
And while Granger could be excused for not being familiar with the operations of PPP candidates of the poll on Election Day, he surely cannot be unaware of the fact that as candidates they are entitled to visit places of poll in respective divisions up until the close of poll.
So Ramotar cannot be far off when he expressed his view that the process was manipulated by the APNU and AFC, which has been proven by time to be an inseparable union. Why did the APNU after initially calling for a recount subsequently refuse to participate in the one requested by the PPP/C?
Instead they brought their supporters out on the streets using the threat of street protests and possibly violence as a weapon to pressure the PPP into accepting the results, questionable as they were.