–Norton says party will emerge like an ‘oak tree: stronger, better’

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Leader Aubrey Norton, on Saturday, although seeking to discredit the September 1 elections with claims of “irregularities,” has finally acknowledged defeat.

Norton made these statements during an address to the nation this afternoon, following tedious days of his party, filing for a recount and then penning a letter to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairperson Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh requesting a forensic audit of the electoral data or fresh polls.

These moves were described by GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj and other stakeholders as attempts to delay the inevitable, which is the final declaration showing a PPP/C victory.

In his statement, Norton, although stating the party would have accepted a victory, claimed that the electoral process was “marred by manifest deficiencies” including a bloated voter list and the absence of biometrics, which, in his view, “undermine any basis for the creation of a framework for free, fair and transparent elections.”

In spite of these allegations, that he branded as major concerns for his party, Norton insisted that the APNU made the conscious choice to contest the elections.

He stated: “The clear purpose of the APNU coalition was to contest the elections, and if it were victorious, among other things, was to change the electoral system and other procedures to ensure free and fair elections. The inadequacies and imperfections of the existing electoral system are well known locally, regionally and internationally.”

All local and international observer missions, however, have concluded that the polls were free and fair.

In fact, the Carter Center, a respected international election observer mission, had issued a pre-election statement which dealt with the topic of the Official List of Electors (OLE), that Norton spoke about in this afternoon’s address.

The observer mission stated that they found no credible evidence of voter list being inflated or manipulated.

Also, they pointed to GECOM’s continuous voter registration periods and the “claims and objections” period.

The Claims and Objections period is used by GECOM to facilitate the addition or removal of names from the Official voters list.

Notably, names are only removed once a person is deceased, which must be proven with a death certificate in accordance with rulings of the court.

Further, Norton sought to claim that there was an uneven playing field.

However, the very recount that was initiated at the request of his party, tells a different story.

APNU requested a recount in sub-district four (East Coast Demerara) after the declarations showed that the APNU suffered a substantial loss at the elections.

The original declaration for District Four, made just two days after the September 1 election, put the APNU at 46,956 votes. However, the recount, which concluded on Friday, showed that they received 46,949 votes, seven votes shy of the original declaration.

For Region Five, in the General election, the APNU’s votes also decreased after the conclusion of another requested recount

The original declaration had put the coalition at 6,480 votes, but the recount showed that they had received 6,477 votes, decreasing by three votes.

Adding to this, the law has been fully followed as opposed to 2020 where the PPP/C had to file an injunction because of the electoral laws not being followed.

In this year’s elections, GECOM has made public all Statements of Polls (SOPs) for the general public to view.

Also, on Friday, Norton wrote a letter to the chairperson seeking a forensic audit of the election, and demanded that the entire 2025 elections be aborted, though his party was the one that requested recounts following declarations being made for all ten electoral districts just two days after the September 1 election.

GECOM Chariperson had stated that election disputes must go to Guyana’s Supreme Court.

Justice Singh made this known in a letter addressed to Norton in response to a correspondence he dispatched on Friday.

ELECTORAL REFORMS
Norton sought to draw a parallel to the 1997 elections but stayed clear of mentioning the 2020 elections and the amendments to the laws because of his party in cohorts with the Alliance For Change (AFC)’s attempt to influence the outcome of the 2020 elections.

The National Assembly had amended the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) to strengthen Guyana’s electoral system to prevent any attempts to derail the election process.

The government, made several commitments in 2022 to enact a range of amendments covering various areas under ROPA and the National Registration Act (NRA).

These latest ROPA amendments ensured that illegalities that occurred during the tabulation of results from Region Four in March 2020, were not repeated.

During that process, Returning Officer for Region Four Clairmont Mingo, was accused of seeking to alter the electoral results from his region, including derailing the results.

The findings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections, were presented by Chairman Stanley John and commissioners — former Chancellor, Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith.

“…our inquiry reveals that there were, in fact, shockingly brazen attempts by Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO)Roxanne Myers and Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo to derail and corrupt the statutorily prescribed procedure for the counting, ascertaining and tabulation of votes of the March 2nd election, as well as the true declaration of the results of that election, and that they did so – to put it in unvarnished language of the ordinary man – for the purpose of stealing the election,” the commissioners said in their report.

‘RE-EMERGE BETTER AND STRONGER’
Despite his attempts to undermine this year’s elections, APNU acknowledged that it was defeated.

“Our Party has found itself in virgin territory of not being the governing Party or the main opposition Party,” Norton said.

APNU suffered a major defeat at the polls by the ruling party. Importantly, it also lost two of its strongholds and most of its votes to the three-month-old political outfit, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) which is led by U.S.-sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed.

Norton, however, said his party will overcome this and become “stronger and better.”

Norton recalled another instance in history where the People’s National Congress/ Reform (PNC/R), the major component of the APNU, faced challenges but still bounced back.

“I appeal to all APNU supporters to watch with us at this critical hour. We are like the oak tree. We will re-emerge better and stronger,” he said.

The results of the election are expected to be delcared this evening, and will pave the way for the swearing in of President, Dr. Irfaan Ali for a second term.