PPP releases documents to disprove Harmon’s election irregularity claim in Region 7

Last Updated on Saturday, 30 May 2020, 19:10 by Denis Chabrol

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Saturday afternoon released evidence to rubbish claims by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) that there was evidence in ballot boxes of  elections fraud by the opposition.

“The increasingly embattled APNU+AFC Coalition persists in its misguided attempts to discredit the electoral process by perpetuating fallacious claims about so-called irregularities,” the PPP said in a statement.

The PPP says based on the declaration of election results prior to the commencement of the national recount, won these two regions at both the General and Regional levels.

Harmon says in Ballot Box 7079, a total of 352 ballots were issued, but 377 ballots were found in the Ballot Box.

But the PPP says the Statement of Recount for Ballot Box 7079, Phillipai Primary School, makes it clear that there were not 377 ballots in the Ballot Box.

Instead, the PPP says there were 227 votes cast – 223 being deemed valid and four being rejected ballots.

The APNU General Secretary says the wrong list of electors was found in Ballot Box 7003.

But the PPP refers to the Recount Observation Report for Ballot Box 7003, saying that that document explains that Ballot Box 7002 was brought out, instead of Ballot Box 7003.

The PPP quotes the observation report as saying this “resulted in a mix up” that was corrected. The PPP released a copy of the Observation Report that says “No other error was found in this box.”

The PPP did not respond to APNU’s other claims that in ballot box 7060, the list of electors that was ticked off for another station was found in that box and seven extra ballots were cast in excess of the voters list; in ballot box 7024,  50 counterfoils were missing, suggesting that 50 ballots taken away and cast elsewhere, and that in ballot box 7060, the list of electors that was ticked off for another station was found in that boix and seven extra ballots were cast in excess of the voters list

The APNU General Secretary earlier Saturday called on GECOM to conduct an “urgent investigation” and provide a response before the tabulation of results for Region 7 (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni) are announced. Unofficial results show that of the 9,592 valid votes cast in Region 7, APNU+AFC got 4,813 and the People’s Progressive Party 3,728.