No decision yet in Guyana

GUYANA’s wait for the declaration of a winner for its March 2 regional and general elections continues. A report on the Demerara Waves website said Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) chairman, retired Justice Claudette Singh on Monday set aside the ten district declarations. Singh ordered Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield submit a report using figures from the national vote recount- the only figures now available.

Pro-People’s Progressive Party (PPP) elections commissioner, Sase Gunraj said Singh scrapped the ten declarations. “She proceeded to say that the March 13 declaration which included the fraudulent declaration by the Returning Officer of Region Four has been set aside and replaced by the recount tabulation certificates.” The report said that if Lowenfield again refuses to use the recount data and submit his report by 2 pm on Tuesday, Singh has reportedly decided that Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers will use the recount data to compile the report for GECOM to consider and declare a winner. Unofficially, the recount data showed that of the 460,352 valid votes cast, the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) has won 217,920 votes and the PPP/Civic (PPP/C) won 233,336 votes. The three ‘joinder’ parties- A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM) got a total of 5,214 votes.

On July 8, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) invalidated Lowenfield’s June 23 report, which slashed over 115,000 votes. The PPP/C has said it won the last elections based on the national recount that ended on June 9.

But the APNU/AFC has said that there were several irregularities and anomalies and wants the polls to be annulled. A high-level Caricom team, which served as observers for the national vote recount, said they found no proof of electoral fraud.