The form of the Region Four vote count which has been published by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was signed off by the Returning Officer and PNCR Chairman Volda Lawrence.
The PNCR is the largest party in the APNU+AFC Coalition which has claimed victory in the Match 02 elections. The opposition PPP claims the figures for Region Four were doctored to favour the Coalition but if the results were verified it would show a different result.
GECOM published the Form 24 for all of the Regions after the Returning of Region Four had published his. The Form 24 is completed by the Returning Officer of each electoral district after Statements of Poll for each electoral district is tabulated in the presence of local and international observers and agents of the various parties which contested the elections.
There has been widespread condemnation that the Form 24 for Region Four was prepared in breach of the electoral laws.
GECOM published the forms of all 10 electoral districts on its website. All of the forms have the stamp and signature of the Returning Officer but only Region Four has an additional signature, that of Lawrence.
The international community has said that the vote count in Region Four needs to be verified in order for the results to be deemed credible.
There have been questions raised as to why Lawrence’s signature ended up on the form. Efforts to contact GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward to clarify this proved futile.
