The election
that was held on 28th November 2011 was rigged by the PPP and GECOM.
When one rigs an election from a minority base he has to take large blocks of
votes away from the majority, and so his rigging is easily detected. On the
other hand when one rigs from a large base he does not have to take away votes
from the minority. He only has to keep his base numbers high, and this not
easily detectable. That is why observers have a difficulty catching the PPP at
rigging.
During the
elections campaign the traditional PPP supporter stayed away from PPP meetings
so much so that the PPP had to “rig” crowds at its rallies. When PPP supporters
stayed away from the polls the PPP had to rig the elections.
The report
that follows is my own finding which are based on my personal experience on
elections day.
Voter Turnout
The voter turnout
in APNU strongholds was very high as was evident from the large crowds seen at
the polling places throughout the morning. That was in stark contrast to PPP
strongholds where only small groups of voters were seen. Yet according to the
Statements of Poll the turnout in PPP areas was high. How is such a
contradiction possible? The answer lies in the rigging process such as multiple
voting and phantom voting.
Multiple Voting
Multiple
voting was facilitated through several mechanisms and those were as follows:
As many as eight polling stations were located in a building.
The voters list for that polling place was split alphabetically,which meant
each station was supposed to have just a section of the list so that a voter’s
name can only appear once at the entire polling place. Each station had the
entire list, however, which meant that a voter’s name appeared at each station.
The situation was created whereby a voter could vote at each station, as many
as four to eight times depending on the size of the building.
The
indelible ink that was used to stain voters’ index finger was found in many
cases to take as long as fifteen to twenty minutes to be effective. In other
cases the stain was easily removed. Again, the situation was created for an
elector to vote multiple times.
I dealt with
one case on elections day where at Timehri Primary School on the East Bank
Demerara a group of twenty-six PPP supporters were detected voting at least
twice. Their names appeared on the lists of all the polling stations located in
the building, and the ink was slow to stain the finger. So multiple voting did
take place and it was widespread.
I saw a
group of PPP supporters being briefed outside West Demerara Secondary School. I
got reports of groups of young PPP supporters being moved around on the East
Bank Essequibo.
Buying Voter ID Cards
At West
Demerara Secondary School I saw PPP activists with a briefcase full of Voter ID
Cards. They were distributing the cards to a group of PPP supporters. Voters
also received a slip of paper which they had to present later for payment. The
same set of PPP activists also went to Vreed En Hoop Primary School where they
distributed ID cards to their supporters. Many voters later complained of
receiving some counterfeit notes with their payment. Some shopkeepers also said
they received counterfeit $1,000.00 notes.
GECOM Created Obstacles to Polling
Agents
Since 1992, it was always the practice of GECOM to issue
Letters of Employment to polling agents to enable them to vote at the station
they were working at rather than where they were registered. Two days before
elections GECOM aborted that practice by refusing to issue Letters of Employment.
It meant that polling agents would be late, would leave the polling station, or
don’t show up at all if they had to work outside of their registered districts.
That created a window of opportunity for PPP allied polling officials to mark
up ballots for the PPP. Opposition polling agent were absent from most stations
in the Amerindian communities.
Polling Places Located
At Homes Of PPP Supporters
Our population has been declining, and as a consequence our
national list of electors has stagnated or declined. Despite this, GECOM increased the number of
polling places, especially on the East Coast of Demerara, Region 4. There, newly
created polling places, most a few days before elections, were located at the
homes of known PPP supporters. This was done to facilitate phantom voting to
counter APNU strongholds in Region 4.
PPP Controlled GECOM
In PPP strongholds the GECOM polling staff comprised PPP
members and supporters. The Rural Constables who provided security at polling
places were also under the control of the PPP. The PPP utilized the structure
and resources of the Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDC). The NDC chairmen were
the persons who were in command of the rigging operation. In every report I got
of irregularities and breaches of the law the main culprits were the NDC
chairmen.
At Silk Cotton Dam, Zeelugt, EBE, a NDC chairman had a gang
of young PPP supporters whom he used to threaten to kill APNU officials if they
did not leave the polling places. At Diamond EBD it was the NDC chairman who
supervised the tampering of ballot boxes and the removal of the envelopes
containing Statements of Poll on Wednesday 30th November. That was
the EBD area where the PPP had called for a recount.
PPP Phantom Voting
PPP phantom voting is a phenomenonwhereby an elector votes
without ever setting foot in the polling station or signing a proxy form.
Phantom voting is done by PPP allied polling officials who mark ballots for the
PPP in the absence of polling agents, or in many cases by simply conning the
agents. Care is taken not to exceed the numbers on the polling station list, as
that would raise a red flag with the Local and International Observers.
Due to lack of opposition polling agents the PPP captured the
Amerindian votes through phantom voting.
Ballot Box Tampering
On Tuesday, 29th November, concerned citizens
reported that ballot boxes were being tampered with at North Ruimveldt
Multilateral School in which all the ballot boxes for District 4 South
Georgetown were stored by GECOM. APNU was able to obtain eleven broken ballot
box seals from someone who smuggled them past heavily armed police. That was the
same district that the PPP wanted a recount after its agent “fixed” the votes.
Ballot Boxes Found On
The West Demerara
On Wednesday, 30th November, one ballot box was
found at Vreed En Hoop, West Coast Demerara, and another was found at
Versailles West Bank Demerara, Region 3. The finds were made after police had
searched the homes of two PPP activists in the area for ballot boxes. Homes
were also searched for ID cards. It was clear that PPP personnel were involved
in nefarious activities with ballot boxes and ID cards.
PPP Calls For Recount
The PPP had called for a recount of ballots on the West
Demerara, South Georgetown, and East Bank Demerara. Those were the locations
where ballot boxes were tampered with after polling and after being secured by
GECOM. It was clear that the PPP called for a recount after it had “fixed” the
ballots in its favour.
Statements Of Poll
The Statements of Poll (SOPs) are the most important document
generated during the electoral process. They are a count of the votes and are
the basis on which the election results are tabulated and declared. The SOPs do
not reflect multiple and phantom voting. Those have to be detected on the
ground and objections must be raised immediately to stop the fraud. If multiple
and phantom voting are not detected then the elections appear to be good and so
the rigging cannot be detected on the SOPs, especially when, as is the case of
the PPP, you have the largest bloc of traditional voters, and you just have to
keep your numbers high but do not exceed the list.
APNU WON THE ELECTIONS
APNU won the elections. Our supporters came out early in
large numbers to vote all over Guyana. The PPP traditional supporters turned
out in small numbers. In Jagdeo’s home village of Unity, Mahaica, ECD, out of
484 electors, only 184 showed up to vote. I saw people straggling to vote in
the PPP traditional strongholds, but just as the PPP “rigged” its rallies, it
had to resort to multiple and phantom voting to rig the numbers in their
strongholds, and the Amerindian communities, and so rig the elections. The
regime has stolen the elections and the government from APNU.
We want justice. We want our election that we won. We want
the Presidency and the Government which we won by the ballots. But we are
willing to share the Government in the interest of peace and unity,and so we
demand POWER SHARING.
GECOM chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally has urged Guyanese to be patient with the slothfulness of the announcement of preliminary results from Monday's General and Regional Elections stating that they must verify the numbers with the hard copies of the Statements of Polls (SOP) from around the country.