Still no winner in Guyana elections

DESPITE media reports saying the opposition People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP) has won the recount of ballots in the March 2 Guyana regional and general elections, no winner has been declared in those elections as yet.

On Monday, political sources in Guyana noted the reports but said the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has not declared a winner.

Other political observers in Guyana said this is not simply a matter of numbers: the recount still has to be validated and GECOM chairman Claudette Singh still has to declare a winner.

A report on the Guyana Newsroom website said after the tabulation of 2, 339 statements of recount on Monday, the PPP/C won the elections by 15, 416 votes. The report said this meant the PPP/C got 223, 336 votes while the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/Alliance for Change (AFC) coalition secured a secured 217, 920 votes. Three smaller parties, ANUG, LJP and TNM reportedly secured 5, 214 votes.

The report said this meant seats in Guyana's parliament will be divided 33 (PPP/C), 31 (APNU/AFC) and one ANUG/LJP/TNM.

A Demerara Waves report said the recount votes need to be certified and this should be done by the end of Tuesday. Once all the certificates are in, the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, has to provide a report to GECOM. This report will contain the total votes cast for each party and will include a summary of the observation reports from the statements of recount. He has until June 13 to do so.

GECOM, which consists of Singh and three commissioners each from the PPP and APNU+AFC, will then deliberate on the report.

They have until June 16 to ask Lowenfield to prepare a final report for them to declare the results of the elections.

Concerns have been raised inside and outside of Guyana about no winner being declared in the elections which were held three months ago. Concerns were raised after votes in the Demerara-Mahaica region seemed to overturn results in the elections in favour of the APNU/AFC.

An Associated Press report on Monday said the APNU/AFC accused the PPP/C of electoral fraud and said it would go to court to prevent GECOM from declaring a winner. The announcement was made a day after the commission finished recounting about 400,000 votes, including disputed votes from about 30 boxes from coastal villages that the ruling coalition said contained only votes for the opposition that it wants invalidated.The PPP/C has rejected the fraud allegations and said its presidential candidate Irfaan Ali should be sworn in while the court resolves any alleged irregularities.