The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) remains resolute that it won the March 2 Regional and General Elections. PPP/C said that its claim to victory was derived from the its own tabulation and calculation of Statements of Polls (SOPs) that were garnered from the polling stations around the country.
But even the SOPs that were released by the party has had its share of criticism, with persons questioning the validity of data.
The party’s Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali, is saying now that he is “100 percent” confident of the accuracy of the data. So much so that the party is even prepared to go back to the ballot boxes to prove to the world that is calculations are correct.
His comments come at a time when the declaration made by the District Four (Demerara/Mahaica) Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo has been declared null and void by the Chief Justice (CJ), Roxane George, after the methodology he employed in the summation of the votes cast in that region was challenged, and subsequently vacated.
Mingo, according to the PPP/C, sought to reintroduce the same contentious method – much to the protest of the party’s agents and observers who were present at the RO’s High and Hadfield Office this morning.
Today, the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Retired) Claudette Singh suspended the process so that she can be properly guided by the CJ’s written ruling. That process is set to recommence tomorrow at 9am.
Ali said at Freedom House, this afternoon, that any discrepancies that should arise when the process recommences, can be easily resolved by also referring to the ballot boxes, which he dubbed: “the Gold Standard”.
“We are not afraid to go to the boxes – that is the gold standard. We are so confident in the figures, that we are saying publicly again: we are willing to go back to the boxes. We are willing to subject ourselves to the boxes. Let the boxes be open…And we will abide by the whatever results are in the boxes…Our country is in a tense situation. If we are all patriots, why don’t we go to the boxes and let the boxes demonstrate who is telling the truth and who’s not,” he said.
Ali said that he is challenging the incumbent administration and GECOM to make the same commitment in the interest of transparency.
The presidential candidate said that the party’s willingness to return to the boxes was communicated to the Heads of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), who recently arrived in Guyana to find an amicable solution to the challenges facing the country’s leaders. The CARICOM delegation, which was led by the Chairperson, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, said that it is undesirable to see the loss of life, injury, and damage to property, which occurred during an unrest in Region Five several days ago.
Guyana Standard understands that some 425 of the 879 SOPs were processed to date.
