Dear Editor,
It is more than passing strange that President Granger and his APNU cohorts have all been conveying the impression that the results of the 2020 elections are known only to GECOM and must be communicated by GECOM to the people of Guyana.
But in 2015, David Granger was eminently correct when he said that we have in Guyana what are called statements of poll, so that the results of the elections are not secret. The results are known.
Now therefore in 2020, David Granger and APNU are noticeably silent about these statements of poll. I am yet to see a single reference to the statements of poll by Granger or any member of APNU for these 2020 elections.
The value of the information on the statements of poll has not changed since Granger spoke in 2015. Indeed, the intrinsic value of the statement of poll is to be gathered from section 83(9A) of the Representation of the People Act of the Laws of Guyana. It provides:
“The statement of poll once posted in a conspicuous place outside the polling place, constitutes CONCLUSIVE evidence of the result of the election for that place.”
This section undergirds the importance of the verification exercise to be undertaken pursuant to section 84 0f the Act, to be based on the information contained in the statements of poll. What then is the conclusive evidence in the statements of poll, known to all, including David Granger and his APNU followers? It is that the PPP won the 2020 elections. This is not secret information. GECOM has only to confirm that conclusive evidence.
Sincerely,
Selwyn Persaud
