GECOM to meet on Saturday to address recount issues
DPI, Guyana, Friday, June 5, 2020
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is expected to meet on Saturday to deliberate on how it will treat the issues brought to it by the APNU+AFC Coalition regarding incidences of electoral fraud.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward said the seven-member commission met briefly this afternoon and has set tomorrow Saturday, June 6 to discuss the issues.
The APNU+AFC has been pointing out that their more than 16 letters addressed to the commission, highlighting the increasing amount of electoral fraud committed by the opposition PPP were unanswered.
The Coalition had said that the elections body must communicate clearly how it intends to address the glaring incidences of fraud unearthed during the course of the national vote recount of the March 2, polls.
The high number of discrepancies, APNU+AFC campaign manager Joseph Harmon said has affected the validity of more than 90, 000 votes. He said the credibility of the March 2, election process is the focus of the national recount, and that GECOM needed to act swiftly.
On Thursday, Harmon related that the Lower East Coast, a stronghold of the PPP, has proven to be the hotbed of the opposition’s electoral fraud. The absence of documents that should validate the ballots in the boxes has left more questions than answers.
“What was emerging was a clear pattern of intense voter fraud uncovered on the lower East Coast. During the hours of the morning alone, it was discovered all the boxes contained were just ballots, none of the statutorily required documents could be found in the boxes. There were at least six boxes for the morning,” Harmon stated.
He continued, “Counterfoils missing, nothing could be found. What this meant that there is no way of verifying that the ballots that were issued there were for the respective stations where they were cast. Consequently, any of the votes counted from these boxes are put to question.
Earlier today, Harmon told journalists that GECOM is obligated to respond to the matters despite the tactics being used by the opposition to prevent the commission from deliberating on that matter.
The issues at hand were extracted from GECOM’s record and the APNU+AFC Election Agent is optimistic that the Commission will understand the seriousness as the issues are proving to be more than just allegations.