By Kemol King
The National Recount has unearthed more evidence of manipulation of Region Four numbers by Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.
Yesterday’s Grove and Providence, East Bank boxes takes Kaieteur News’ analysis up to a total of 23 boxes which show that Mingo added 1,068 votes to APNU+AFC, and subtracted 341 votes from PPP/C. This amounts to a total variance of 1,409 votes from the corresponding statements of poll, for those 23 boxes.
For ballot box #4127, the statement of poll showed 218 votes for PPP/C, and 37 votes for APNU+AFC. Mingo’s tabulation subtracted 10 votes from PPP/C, decreasing the count to 208, and added 40 votes to APNU+AFC, increasing the count to 77. The statement of recount showed the same result as the statement of poll.
For ballot box #4164, the statement of poll showed 150 votes for PPP/C, and 54 votes for APNU+AFC. Mingo’s tabulation added 50 votes to APNU+AFC, increasing the count to 104. The statement of recount showed a decrease from the statement of poll, of one vote for PPP/C, to 149, likely due to a previously valid vote, now rejected at the recount.
The other 21 ballot boxes, detailed in previous articles in this series, are of data taken from The Citizenship Initiative (TCI)’s Executive Member, Shaz Ally (17 boxes) and from Head of Organisation of American States (OAS) Electoral Observer Mission, Bruce Golding (four boxes).
Kaieteur News has verified, using the statements of recount, the numbers used by TCI and Golding.
All of the boxes examined by this newspaper come from locations on the East Bank of Demerara.
Kaieteur News will continue to update our coverage in this series, to assist the public in determining where alterations occurred, and to publish verifiable numbers, which were clearly manipulated in the tabulation which led to Mingo’s Kingston declarations of Friday, March 13, 2020.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is currently holding Mingo’s Region Four General and Regional Elections declarations “in abeyance” with no definitive decision made on whether they will be discarded.
PPP/C’S TABULATION
Kaieteur News also examined a spreadsheet supplied by PPP/C’s Robin Singh, using figures from 87 ballot boxes, as of May 21, 2020. A comparison of the trend emerging from this newspaper’s tabulation and that of PPP/C shows that the patterns of deflation of PPP/C’s votes and inflation of APNU+AFC’s votes are largely similar.
A summation of the statements of poll showed 10,454 votes for PPP/C, and 10,036 for APNU+AFC. The party claims that Mingo’s tabulation subtracted 758 votes from PPP/C.
However, the party’s tabulation incorrectly notes the difference between 10,454 and 758 as 9722, while the correct different is 9,696. The party claims that Mingo’s tabulation added 4,495 votes to APNU+AFC, increasing the count to 14,534.
The party’s tabulation incorrectly notes the summation of 10,036 and 4,495 as 14,534, while the correct summation is 14,531.
The errors aforementioned amount to a difference of 27 votes from the mathematically correct figures.
The party’s tabulation claims that the total variance for those 87 boxes from the corresponding statements of poll, caused by Mingo’s manipulation, is 5,253 votes.
Kaieteur News examined the figures this newspaper has verified for 23 ballot boxes, against the figures for the same 23 boxes in the PPP/C’s tabulation. The figures were largely similar with a few differences.
For ballot box #4105, PPP/C incorrectly notes that the statement of recount lists its total as 115, while the correct figure is 113. This resulted in the PPP/C listing the reduction by Mingo, two votes higher.
For ballot box #4105, PPP/C incorrectly notes that the statement of recount lists APNU+AFC’s total as 96, while the correct figure is 98. This resulted in the PPP/C listing the inflation by Mingo, two votes lower.
For ballot box #4106, PPP/C incorrectly notes Mingo’s tabulation of PPP/C’s vote as 142, while the audio recording published by TCI indicates that Mingo’s tabulation of its vote is 148. This resulted in the PPP/C listing the deflation by Mingo, six votes lower.
For ballot box #4139, PPP/C incorrectly notes Mingo’s tabulation of PPP/C’s vote as 146, while the audio recording provided by TCI indicates that it is 145. The party’s incorrect notation resulted in it listing no deflation, though there was a deflation of one vote.
These errors, in those four boxes, account for a difference of 11 votes, from the figures verified by Kaieteur News.