The National Recount exercise underway at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) to ascertain votes cast on March 2 last has revealed that Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo inflated the figures for ballots cast in that region by an average of 50 per box.
Opposition Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Tabulation Agent Anil Nandlall told media operatives on Thursday — Day 16 of the recount — that of the 85 boxes of Region Four ballots recounted, Mingo has been shown to give the coalition, A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), 4,415 additional votes.
Compounding the situation, the recount exercise has illustrated that in those 85 ballot boxes, the Region Four RO allegedly reduced the votes cast for the PPP/C by 686.
Nandlall gave this damning conclusion during a media engagement on the outskirts of the ACCC venue, and said that the ballot “boxes, as they are being completed, continue to confirm the accuracy of the Statements of Poll (SOP) published by PPP in every material way”.
An SOP is generated on Elections Day by each polling officer for each polling station, reflecting the votes allocated to each party in addition to recording spoilt and other such ballots.
According to Nandlall, “…in terms of Mingo fraud, 85 boxes that Mingo used that spreadsheet for have already been counted, and the total number of votes that the fraudulent spreadsheet Mingo used allocated to APNU+AFC is 4,415.”
He was adamant that Mingo had fraudulently allocated votes to the APNU-AFC while simultaneously reducing the number of votes for the PPP.
Nandlall said his party is more than willing to share publicly the information it has, including audio and video clippings with Mingo declaring the figures, and he also referred to the already public copies of the SOPs.
The former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs under the PPP/C Administration has in fact challenged “anyone” with SOPs that contradict those that the party has made public; and quickly suggested, “If they had, it would have already been out there.”
