General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Bharrat Jagdeo, today, accused the APNU/AFC of using deliberate strategies to drag out the national recount process, so that the Coalition could hang on to power longer and possibly set the stage to demand fresh elections.
During a virtual press conference, Jagdeo detailed a number of strategies, he claims, the APNU/AFC are using to frustrate the recount process and cast doubt on the March 2 elections so that they could call for a return to the polls.
Jagdeo firmly stated that his party is only interested in seeing the recount is completed in a credible, transparent and expeditious manner and not in having fresh elections.
He rubbished several allegations being made by the Coalition; which he referred to as “clumsy attempts” aimed at creating confusion among citizens. He questioned if the APNU/AFC Coalition are confident that they won the elections, why are they making such frivolous claims that the Voters’ List was bloated and dead people and persons who migrated voted in the elections.
Jagdeo said everyone, including the diplomatic community and the international observers, knows that it is the PPP that was victorious in the polls by “over 17000 votes.”
In relation to the results of the recount, Jagdeo related that there is a pattern emerging that the Statements of Recount (SoRs) of the ballot boxes completed so far match the SoPs uploaded by the PPP. He cited as examples the six boxes completed for District Four yesterday, saying the figures correspond to the SoPs that were uploaded by the PPP.
Jagdeo also said that the APNU/AFC are pushing for an audit instead of a recount, which is outside of what the stakeholders had agreed to.
He said a recount deals with the total number of votes cast and how many of the votes were awarded to each party, but APNU/AFC agents are raising all sorts of issues aimed at delaying and frustrating the recount from being concluded.
“They are asking for the list of counterfoils, which is not relevant to the law of the recount,” Jagdeo fumed.
Turning his attention to the security of the ballot boxes, the General Secretary said that diligent efforts are being made by all stakeholders to keep a close watch on the containers and the boxes to ensure they are not tampered with.
Jagdeo added that his party will continue to expose the APNU/AFC’s plan to create doubt and confusion regarding the recount process.
