July 20 2020
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) observer team last night said that based on the number of irregularities unearthed by the recount process and witnessed by its observer team, the union has arrived at the “inescapable conclusion” that the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections could not be credible.
It said it appeared that a party or parties conspired to use information in the flawed voters list in an unlawful manner to their advantage.
“The existence of the irregularities made it difficult to identify a clear winner without being able to qualitatively pinpoint, and weed out all irregular votes. Hence, even though GECOM was properly able to tabulate the votes, the extent of missing documentation and the obvious inclusion of irregular votes, made it imperative that the votes had to be sanitized, prior to the end product being determined credible.
“Also, in numerous instances it was impractical to validate votes cast, due to the absence of statutory documents required for reconciliation. For example, there were 47 ballot boxes from East Coast of Demerara, Region 4, that contained ballots without any of the required statutory documentation. Hence, it was impossible to determine who cast those ballots, or more importantly, if they were validly cast!” the GPSU declared in a statement.
The union said that its position is that the entire process had been severely compromised and that in-formation generated from the Recount Process could not be adequately employed to declare a winner.
“It was further concluded that the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections should be negated – rendered null and void. Steps should be taken immediately to sanitize the list of electors and new elections called, as soon as possible. Action should also be taken to rectify all the weaknesses and discrepancies identified during the recount process, including punitive action against all defaulting Presiding Officers. This will enable the Guyanese people to have full confidence that their votes have been counted and the results are a true reflection of the legitimate democratic process”, the GPSU stated.
It is unclear why the GPSU is only now presenting its findings on the recount nearly six weeks after the process came to an end. The GPSU position mirrors that of APNU+AFC. No other local or international observer has agreed with APNU+AFC. It has been agreed unanimously except for APNU+AFC and now the GPSU that the recount provided an adequate basis for the declaration of a result and this was emphatically stated in the June 15 report compiled by the CARICOM scrutineers who observed the process.
The GPSU said that as a continuously accredited Elections Observer for over two decades, it observed the General and Regional Elections 2020. It added that teams from the Union were present in Administrative Regions two, three, four, and ten observing the ballot processes at over two hundred polling stations on polling day March 2, 2020.
It said that from the polling day observations, balloting operations appeared smooth and transparent, “even though the Union was very certain that below that apparently pristine surface problems existed, because of the obviously flawed lists of electors being used at polling stations”. It argued that the list of electors was over 10 years old and because of a Court ruling and subsequent position taken by the GECOM Chairperson, it could not be adequately sanitized prior to the March 2, 2020 Elections.
The GPSU statement noted that following Election Day operations and some dissatisfaction with preliminary results released by GECOM, an agreement was made between the leaders of the major political parties for a recount of the votes and based on this CARICOM was accredited as the major observer.
“The Union’s observer team at the recount process observed a number of irregularities that were also witnessed by all parties present and recorded in GECOM’s observation reports as provided for by the Recount Order. These irregularities included a number of missing statutory documents necessary for the reconciliation and validation of ballots cast, which included missing documentation such as, poll books, oaths of identity, unused ballots and counterfoils, among others. This suggested to a large extent, voter impersonation and collusion between polling staff to that end”, the statement said.
These matters had not previously been drawn to the attention of the media or public by the GPSU team.