Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Executive Member, Anil Nandlall, has slammed A Partnership and National Unity/ Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC)-aligned Commissioner at the Elections Commission, Vincent Alexander, for rejecting calls to do a comparison of the Statements of Polls (SOPs) for District Four with the Statements of Recount (SORs) being derived from the ongoing national recount.
During a brief engagement with the media this morning, outside the Arthur Chung Convention Centre; where the national recount is taking place, Nandlall said Alexander’s response to calls being made for there to be a comparison between Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo’s SOPs; which are in the possession of GECOM, and the SORs is quite unfortunate.
Mingo, is being accused of declaring results for District four that are now being proven as inflated in favour of the incumbent APNU/AFC Coalition.
Several stakeholders have expressed the view that the national recount is exposing Mingo’s declarations as fraudulent and have called on GECOM to release its SoPs to have a comparison with the SORs.
However, Alexander has signaled that he is not in favour of having any comparison made at this time and has shut down calls for the electoral body to move in this direction.
“Clairmont Mingo’s figures at this time or any other figures from District One to Ten are of no import to me. We have set those aside. Those declarations are being held in abeyance and we are counting from district one to ten and that is what is of concern,” Alexander told media operatives last Saturday.
But Nandlall in response said, he finds Alexander’s position “extraordinary” adding that in any part of the world, a Commissioner making such a statement would have been dismissed instantaneously.
“Mr Mingo has committed the vilest electoral fraud over the past three decades in the Western Hemisphere. He is acting as an agent of GECOM…perpetrating a rank fraud against the electorate of this country,” Nandlall fumed.
According to the PPP, over the past few days, there have been several instances where the figures that were released by Mingo did not match the actual numbers of the official SoPs and the SoRs.
Some of the figures have been inflated by 100 in some instances in favour of the APNU/AFC and in some cases, the numbers for the PPP/C have been reduced, PPP said.
GECOM has so far completed the recount of 208 ballot boxes. There are 2,339 ballot boxes in all that must be counted in ten electoral districts.
The electoral body has given itself a 25-day time-frame to complete the process.
