Government-nominated GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj says the September 1 General and Regional Elections have been hailed as efficiently conducted. However, he believes that efforts now to stall the final declaration by way of a recount are only delaying that inevitable re-election of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).
Gunraj engaged reporters early Thursday morning as a recount for Sub-District Four (East Coast Demerara) of District Four got underway. He noted that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was within its rights to request this recount, but opined that such a move is only delaying the declaration of the results.
In fact, he opined that APNU is in disbelief at its performance.
“The dissatisfaction, if I can hazard a guess, is not really with the process or the numbers. They are dissatisfied with their performance, and there is an attempt to translate it to the process.
“Delaying what is clearly inevitable is very unfortunate,” Gunraj said.
The recount got underway at 08:00 hrs, and there are 25 workstations in use; the recount exercise will proceed uninterrupted until completion.
Based on the results declared by the region’s Returning Officer and seen by the News Room, the PPP/C got 87,536 votes in the general election.
Surprisingly, the PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) got 46,956 votes in the region. This region was never lost by the PNC, which morphed into APNU in 2011, since Guyana gained independence in 1966.
In 2020, APNU got 116,941 votes in the region while the PPP got 80,920.
Meanwhile, the third-highest number of votes went to the newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party; that party got 41,607 votes in the region.
The PPP/C increased its votes in this region by 6,616 but APNU’s 2020 lead was taken away following the emergence of WIN and the support that party garnered.
Meanwhile, Gunraj also highlighted the efficiency with which the Statements of Polls- 2,790 in number- were uploaded to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was a good sign. By law, these SOPs were to be uploaded, and GECOM was commended for this.
Additionally, local and international observer groups have praised the elections as being free and fair and without irregularities. So the or a recount is seen as a delaying tactic designed to frustrate the population and prevent a speedy declaration of the results.
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