Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield in his report on the vote recount has found that the results do not meet the standard of fair and credible elections.

Mr. Lowenfield presented his report earlier today to the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission and he has detailed the complaints and observations made of the recount in every region and the findings.

For Region One, Lowenfield highlighted that there are 36 instances where evidence to validate the usage of certificate of employment were missing, 16 instances where oaths of identity where are used for persons without an ID Card, were missing and 12 instances where extra ballot papers were found in ballot boxes without the requisite documentation.

In respect to allegations of voter impersonation, Lowenfield summarised that responses from the Chief Immigration Officer and the General Registrar’s Office Deceased Reports confirmed the voter impersonation claims to be of substance.

“Approximately thirty-three (33) ballot boxes stand affected due to a total of ninety-three (93) abnormalities, anomalies, and alleged voter impersonation. In other words, approximately 35% of all votes cast for general elections are associated with boxes that stand to be impacted due to either anomalies or voter impersonation. Specifically, 20% of the votes cast are impacted by anomalies, while 13% were impacted by voter impersonation, and 2% is impacted by both anomalies/irregularities and voter impersonation”, the Chief Elections Officer stated in his report.

He also highlighted instances of missing poll books and evidence of polling activities were not recorded.

According to the Chief Elections Officer, “the summation of anomalies and instances of voter impersonation identified in District One clearly does not appear to satisfy the criteria of impartiality, fairness, and compliance with provisions of the Constitution and the ROPA Cap 1:03. Consequently, on the basis of the votes counted and the information furnished from the recount, it cannot be ascertained that the results in this District meet the standard of fair and credible elections”.

For Region Two, similar observations were made with the Chief Elections Officer summarizing that “a total of eighty-six (86) ballot boxes stand affected due to a total of three hundred and thirty-eight (338) anomalies and/or alleged voter impersonation. In other words, approximately 75% of all votes cast for general elections are associated with boxes that stand to be impacted due to either anomalies and/or voter impersonation. Specifically, 3% of the votes cast were impacted by anomalies, while 55% were impacted by voter impersonation, and 17% impacted by both anomalies/irregularities and voter impersonation”.

Region Three also had issues that were found to be similar to the other regions and that impacted on the credibility of the elections.

For District Four which is the largest voting region, Mr. Lowenfield found that a total of four hundred and sixty-six (466) ballot boxes were affected due to a total of one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-two (1,862) anomalies and/or alleged voter impersonation and unreconciled ballot boxes.

“In other words, approximately 55% of all votes cast for general elections stand to be impacted due to either anomalies and/or voter impersonation or unreconciled ballot boxes. Specifically, 7.2% of the votes cast were impacted by anomalies, 39.2% were impacted by voter impersonation, 3.4% impacted by both anomalies/irregularities and voter impersonation, and 5.7% impacted by unreconciled ballot boxes”.

In District Four, according to Lowenfield, one hundred and thirty-eight (138) Poll books were recorded as missing and there were one hundred and fifty-six (156) instances where the evidence of polling activities was not recorded in the available poll books. “Specifically, eighteen (18) certificates of employment (Form 4), fifty-six (56) oaths of identity (Form 19) were not available to support entries in the poll books. As a consequence, it could not be reconciled that electors who cast ballots in these cases met the statutory requirements. Also, the recount recorded eighty-two (82) cases of extra or missing ballots from ballot boxes”.

He also said it cannot be ascertained that the results met the standard for free and fair elections.

Throughout the report, Lowenfield highlights the many cases of anomalies and the impact those anomalies would have on the votes and the outcome of the elections.

With the report handed into the Commission, the Gecom Chair and the Commissioners will now have to go through the report and discuss the findings before any declaration could be made.

With Lowenfield raising questions about the credibility of the elections as is catered for in the gazetted Recount Order, his position on that issue is likely to cause some friction at the GECOM meeting to discuss the results.

All of the Commissioners have been supplied with copies of the report and it is also likely that the political parties would also be in possession of copies.

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