The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Sasenarine Singh who served as a supernumerary agent for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) during the 2020 Elections, told the Elections Commission of Inquiry (COI) today that hours after the Returning Officer (RO) for Region Four Clairmont Mingo fell ill during the tabulation of votes, his substitutes turned up with a spreadsheet to continue the tabulation and verification of votes cast in Region 4.

Stating that the change from Statements of Poll (SOPs) to spreadsheet raised a red flag, the PPP/C Agent said the entire scenario unfolded at the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM’s) Command Centre at the Ashmins Building.

“These two DROs that came did not have SOPs, they had a spreadsheet, a piece of paper that had an excel spreadsheet and they were going to be calling numbers from that spreadsheet as representation of the SOPs,” Mr Singh said as he responded to questions posed by the Commission’s Counsel, Sophia Chote, S.C.

Singh said the move sparked widespread objection from the majority of party agents and observers present in the tabulation room. According to him, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, who was present at the time, explained that the spreadsheet would allow for greater efficiency. But notwithstanding continued objections from the party agents, the DROs continued to tabulate the votes using the spreadsheet.

He said it was not long after that the agents realised that something was strange.

“Strangely enough everyone was a casualty except the APNU+AFC. Of course, the party that had the biggest casualty was the PPP/C. So, what was happening, they were deflating everybody’s numbers except the APNU+AFC, and the APNU numbers were being inflated,” Mr Singh said.

The affected parties, he said, vehemently objected to the discrepancies resulting in the process coming to a halt.

The PPP/C agent also told the Commission that even ahead of the use of the spreadsheet, the DROs with support from the Chief Elections Officer, had insisted that they must tabulate and verify the votes cast along the East Bank of Demerara, although they had not completed the verification for South Georgetown.

Mr Singh told the Commission that the situation further deteriorated when the Returning Officer attempted to prematurely declare the results of the elections for District Four.

“Well, when he came into the room, everyone was quiet at that point in time, and he said I will now be declaring the results for District No.4 but after he said that, he was talking but you couldn’t hear him because the room was extremely loud at that point in time,” he recalled.

According to Singh, at the time, the tabulation and verification process for the East Coast of Demerara and North Georgetown had not commenced, and the process for South Georgetown and East Bank of Demerara was still incomplete.

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