General Secretary of APNU, Joseph Harmon
May 23 2020
…coalition submits, to GECOM, list of electors who were overseas but recorded as voted
…to make further submissions on ‘dead voters’, other anomalies
THE APNU+AFC coalition has submitted a list of persons who have been listed as voted at the March 2, 2020, elections despite being overseas after being invited by the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission to do so.
The coalition has also promised to furnish the electoral body with more evidence of same and also of persons who are deceased and listed as voted. This moves comes one day after GECOM’s Chairman, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, had declared that “he who asserts must show proof”. But even before that, the coalition had written her regarding the anomalies.
Justice Singh, in a release Thursday, had said that while issues surrounding the Observation Reports are engaging the attention of the Commission, no decision had been made. “In fact, although there was discussion, no decision was taken in this regard at the level of the Commission,” the GECOM Chair clarified. She added: “While I continue to monitor the trends based on the allegations in the Observation Reports, I am of the view that he who asserts must prove.”
Justice Singh assured that when there are considerable deliberations and decisions at the Commission in relation to claims of anomalies, the outcome would be officially communicated to the political parties and other stakeholders, particularly the press.
GECOM’s correspondence
However, in a correspondence seen by this newspaper titled “Decisions arising out of meeting held between representatives of the APNU/AFC and the Guyana Elections Commission.” Justice Singh wrote coalition agent, Joseph Harmon, referencing a letter he wrote her, dated May 20, 2020, pertaining to the subject, and his request for guidance from the Commission, in relation to concerns raised in previous correspondence and subsequent meeting with a coalition delegation.
Justice Singh wrote: “In this regard, I have to inform you that your concerns are actively engaging the attention of the Commission. However, while there has been no decision yet on these matters, I wish to request for your Party to formally submit evidence in relation to the objections, particularly as they relate to deaths and migration. The submission of evidence would inform the deliberations at the level of the Commission. I look forward to your submissions at your earliest convenience,” Justice Singh wrote.
Meanwhile, in another correspondence seen by this newspaper following up on Justice Singh’s letter, Harmon wrote: “during the recount, agents of the APNU+AFC made objections at the Counting Stations to the voting and counting of ballots by certain Electors after the Counting Agents indicated that the said Electors were recorded as having voted at the March, 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Our investigations have revealed that Electors were outside the jurisdiction and were recorded as voted.” “I hereby supply a list of Electors listed in the Appendix to this letter who were not in Guyana as at the 2nd of March, 2020, and were recorded as voted. We will provide further documentation of other Electors who were outside the jurisdiction and who were recorded as voted,” Harmon wrote. He said the list submitted to GECOM gives validity to the coalition’s objections and brings into serious question the credibility of the March, 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Coalition says have proof
Meanwhile, the APNU-AFC coalition, at the outset of the recount, had announced that, in an organised manner, it will be highlighting, to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), evidence of persons who would have voted at the recent regional and general elections but who are known to be deceased or have migrated. This method includes death certificates and the migration records of these individuals —- documents which would serve as hard proof to the Commission which has requested same.
For these persons in question, especially those alive, the Commission has asked that the party utilises the individual’s ballot serial number instead of their names. Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, representing the APNU+AFC had told reporters at the recount venue: “We have a team in the background providing all the serial numbers to our agents before the boxes are open so that we can give them as much information as possible…we have death certificates, we have migration records, we have very reliable information.”
Order provides for anomalies
Though the ruling coalition has provided death certificates and other records to support its claims at the level of the workstations, the PPP/C has argued that no such evidence was produced. The official order, gazetted on May 4, provides for observations including anomalies and irregularities to be included in the Observation Reports. Commissioner Vincent Alexander has repeatedly said that many of the irregularities are grave and the Commission will deliberate on them during the course of the recount.
Another Elections Commissioner, Desmond Trotman, echoed similar sentiments in a previous interview, explaining that, based on his understanding, the GECOM Secretariat, upon completion of the recount, will summarise the observations recorded throughout the exercise and submit a report to the commission. Unlike Gunraj, Trotman said anomalies with merit ought to be investigated. “The commission will have to investigate these allegations before the process ends because this process is not merely about a recount.
It is intended also to find out if the elections itself were credible, and so you have to take all of those factors into consideration to make a determination about credibility,” Trotman told reporters. However, while clarifying that while the commission has not decided on how it will treat with the Observation Reports, Trotman made it known that he will lobby for allegations with merit to be investigated. “If it is that you are talking about credibility, if you want to ascertain if the elections were credible, once you have information supported by proof that something went on, that shouldn’t have taken place, you have to look at it,” he submitted.
