Attorney-at Law and Candidate for the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Roysdale Forde is insisting that the Representation of the PeopleAct does not provide for a verification process of the ballots of the respective regions. As such, the claim that the Region Four results are not credible is without merit.
The lawyer made these and other comments in a video recording that was sent out to members of the media and was subsequently posted to the APNU+AFC’s Facebook page. Forde said that the law only requires that the Returning Officer ascertain the total votes cast and thereupon, publically declare the votes recorded for each list of candidates. He said that there is no part of the Act which anyone can point to that states the total votes must be verified by anyone.
Forde said that to his knowledge, the votes were tabulated and the declaration was made. The lawyer said, “…We can go into the ridiculous, the strange and the thoughtless but the declaration done and it was broadcast live for all to see…”
The Guyana Standard saw several videos yesterday with Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo returning to the Command office for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) but when he started to read from a paper, there was uproar. It is unclear from videos seen whether Mingo in fact made a declaration or not.
Be that as it may, the process or method used by Mingo for the tabulation and alleged declaration of the results for Region Four remains unknown to international and local observers. It is also a deviation from the process that was used for the calculation of the results for the other nine regions which saw all the stakeholders adding the Statements of Poll and verifying that the total in each others’ presence.
The People’s Progressive Party has since served several Deputy Returning Officers with requests for a recount of the votes for Region Four. Also, several members of the international community have criticized the coalition party and the Guyana Elections Commission for the manner in which the Region Four results were declared. They have all said that it is not credible and have asked that the rule of law be respected.
( Forde’s full statement can be seen using this link https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=219316395877466&id=694735317301702&_rdr)
