Saunders: PSA results hollow victory for Duke

Oral Saunders one of the candidates for the Public Service Association's (PSA) elections, has said incumbent Watson Duke has nothing to celebrate after his reported victory, citing low voter turnout and complaints of irregularities at the polls.

In a video streamed on his Facebook page on Wednesday night, Duke announced that he had retained his role as president of the PSA, while reading from a document from the association's election officer, Selwyn Malcolm.

Speaking with Newsday on Thursday, Saunders said while he has no problem accepting defeat, he was concerned over the transparency of the voting process, and questioned the legitimacy of the results.

He said the absence of safeguards to protect the integrity of the process should be a concern to the PSA's membership.

"The voting process was plagued with irregularities and far too many public officers were denied the opportunity to exercise their franchise.

"I could lose in any race, because there must be a winner and a loser, but when the democracy of an organisation is stolen, it is a different ballgame. That, to me, is treason and for an organisation that has such a rich history to only be able to turn out such meagre numbers is indeed the most hollow victory and is nothing to celebrate."

The results posted on the PSA's Facebook page on Tuesday showed Saunders andhis United Public Officers team a distant second to Duke.

Asked what was the next move for his team, Saunders said he hoped the results would be enough to unify other candidates, who he said were also dissatisfied with Duke's leadership.

"The people voted for us, and even the people who voted against Duke collectively are saying they are not satisfied with Mr Duke, and I take consolation in that maybe, with statistics in front of these leaders, we will be able to move forward once and for all in unity.

"What I can say with some certainty is that all of the candidates are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was indeed a stolen election and that is a powerful statement to make, because it shows why there was a need for us to revisit (the election process) – and maybe not have the incumbent in charge of the voting process, because that's basically what it came down to."