As Day Four of the National Recount get underway this morning (Saturday, May 9, 2020), Executive Member of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Anil Nandlall has stated that the process is not only proceeding fairly thus far but is already yielding the desired results.
Nandlall, a former government Minister and Attorney General, explained that if the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the APNU/AFC Coalition examine the Statements of Poll (SOPs) generated from the initial ballot count in March and compare them with the Statements of Recount (SORs) from the ongoing ballot counting then they will see these are corresponding.
In fact, he noted that the PPP has already done the same.
“The same Statements of Poll that the PPP has are the same Statements of Poll that APNU has and that GECOM has. So once they compare them, they will see that the process is yielding accuracy and it is proceeding transparently. It just these small hiccups and sideshows that are graduated beyond their importance and that are causing these delays to constantly take place,” he asserted.
Only Friday night, the PPP/C said that the recount process has already revealed that the figures declared by embattled Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, was inflated to favour the caretaker Coalition.
In a social media post, the party stated that the March SoPs correspond with the figures in the SoRs that have been generated over the past three days of the national recount.
In fact, the party noted that what differs is the figures that RO Mingo had produced during both of his declarations on March 6 and again on March 13 – both of which have been deemed as fraudulent by stakeholders both here and abroad.
Moreover, the PPP/C pointed out that these figures were inflated in favour of the APNU+AFC.
This was corroborated by other parties that contested the March 2 polls, including Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) Lenox Shuman.
He told reporters moments outside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), “… we’re also seeing that there are discrepancies based on the previous declarations by Mr Mingo, compared to the ones we are seeing on the SoRs for Region Four. This obviously tells a different story compared to what transpired previously.”
Meanwhile, Shazaam Ally from The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) said in a social media post on Friday evening, “I’ve heard some of the figures from Statement of Polls (SoPs) through audio and our Presidential Candidate Rondha-Ann Lam that was read out by Clairmont Mingo. I compared them to the Statement of Recounts (SoRs) that were released by GECOM to party officials, including The Citizenship Initiative, and I will confirm that the figures for the incumbent were bloated.”
Only on Thursday, General Secretary of the PPP, Bharrat Jagdeo stated that by the end of this national recount, which is scheduled to last for a minimum of 25 days, the party’s claim of victory at the March 2 polls will be vindicated.
See below for comparison tables released by PPP:
