Election petition to be filed shortly- PPP/C
“THE PPP/C is committed to the filing of the petition,” says former Attorney General and executive member of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Anil Nandlall.During a recent press conference held at Freedom House, the former AG stated that the party has every intention of filing the petition before the deadline. He maintained that the PPP/C will continue to dispute the results of the recently concluded elections and the elections petition is still on the cards. “I’ve already said publicly that the People’s Progressive Party is committed to the filing of a petition,” Nandlall said.
He acknowledged that the time to do so is “running” and according to Guyana’s law, any elections petition must be filed within a specific timeframe of the publication of the election results in the Official Gazette .“So [now] that has happened and the time is running, so it will be filed within the prescribed timeframe,” he added. The former AG also noted that the party’s previous request for a box- by-box recount has been included in the elections petition.
“The party has not been furnished with the info that the head of the list requested,” and according to Nandlall, GECOM’s refusal of the request for a full recount diminishes its credibility. “GECOM continues to maintain resolutely that the elections process was transparent; that the results were computed accurately, lawfully and transparently, yet it absolutely and emphatically refuses to give us the information which essentially is the basis upon which the results were computed,” he explained.
“They have given us a number, a total, and all we’re asking is that they give us the evidence that led you to that figure. One would have expected that to keep one’s integrity intact, GECOM would have jumped at the opportunity.” He said too that bodies external to GECOM who would have maintained the results as accurate are not advising the elections body correctly.
Nandlall stressed that these agencies should advise GECOM to conduct a full recount. This, he said, would maintain not only GECOM’s integrity, but also that of external bodies. After the recently concluded 2015 general and regional elections, the PPP/C had vehemently stated that “the elections had not been conducted freely, fairly or transparently.” The party had claimed a number of discrepancies had occurred in the entire process and requested a full recount of the more than 400,000 votes recorded.