Why must the electorate accept that these Statements of Poll are authentic?

Dear Editor,

It has been brought to the national attention, that the Opposition’s request to have a total recount done for the Region 4 General and Regional Elections results was rejected by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Mr. Lenox Shuman, presidential candidate of the Liberty & Justice Party reportedly told Kaieteur News that the rejection was because of a technicality. Please refer to article, “Opposition parties request for recount rejected” March 8, 2020.

The rejection of the recount as Mr. Shuman noted, came after the statutory period and the request was not made by a counting agent. As Guyanese seek to understand what is happening, it would be helpful to know Sections 84 (2) and 88 of the Representation of the People Act (1964) requires compliance with specific protocols, which were apparently not met.

Citizens would remember in the 2006 Elections when GECOM awarded a Region 10 seat won by the AFC to the PPP/C. The AFC could not have had that seat accorded to them because the party made a request for a recount of the Region 10 Statements of Poll outside of the legally stipulated period. The AFC was advised by the then-Chief Elections Officer Mr. Gocool Boodhoo to pursue the voting recount request via the Court, which the party did.
Another point to note is that APNU+AFC and the PPP/C were the only two parties who contested the elections in all of the ten administrative regions and fielded polling agents for all of the 879 polling stations in Region Four.

It would be helpful if the other small parties can advise Guyanese which Statements of Poll they are using to question the credibility of Region Four numbers coming out from GECOM? From where have they gotten their statements and why must the electorate accept that theirs are authentic? They have the burden to prove that their claims are sincere, and not the result of misinformation and being bandwagoners.

Members of the international observers’ missions are being equally apprised of the foregoing.

Eslyn Harris
Candidate – APNU+AFC