The release of official results from general elections held on Sept. 1 in Guyana has been delayed by the two major opposition parties, which are demanding recounts in key areas because of what they say are glaring and obvious discrepancies.
Both We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) successfully pleaded for recounts in districts seven, ten and four, saying exponential gains by the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) were not only very suspicious but were also borne out by evidence of voter padding emerging from checks in ballot boxes.
Gecom, the electoral commission, agreed with their demands and has arranged for an uninterrupted recount and review of ballots beginning on Thursday. The move will delay the official declaration of the polls and will likely also push back the swearing in of President Irfaan Ali for a second consecutive term. Ali’s PPP so far has an easy lead in the vote count and impending parliamentary seat allocation as it is likely to cop at least 35 of the 65 seats in the assembly if there are no major alterations from the recount.
APNU’s leader, Aubrey Norton, said the discrepancies which have emerged during the initial count, have much to do with a padded and bloated voters list, numbering 757,000 from a population of about 850,000, including 250,000 school students below the voting age of 18.
“From the inception, there was contention that a padded list would increase the conditions for irregularities. In these elections, we are convinced that is the case,” he said, noting what he described as some numerical improbabilities in district four, which encompasses the city and heavily populated areas east and south of the capital. It is by far the largest voting district.
“We have seen in Region Four something that is very implausible that we would drop from 120,000-plus votes to 40-something thousand. It has never happened in any elections in the world. We will continue to pursue these issues. We have spoken with other opposition parties and so they are aware of our position. We want to urge that this is not the end. We are going to challenge these results until we get to the bottom of how these irregularities and illegalities occurred.”
A string of international observer missions are watching both the regular tallying and recount, including the Carter Center of the US, The Organization of American States, The Commonwealth, CARICOM, the European Union, and a number of local organizations, including the private sector.
