The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is awaiting the completion of the verification of Statements of Poll (SOP) for Region Four to tabulate the final results of the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.
The process which began on Tuesday was stalled at least four times over the past 48 hrs leading to several concerns raised by the political parties contesting the elections.
Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield told the media on Thursday morning that the verification of statements was completed in North and South Georgetown and have started verifying the East Bank votes.
The CEO is hoping to complete the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara SOPs.
There are 879 polling stations In the Demerara –Mahaica Region of the 2,339 across the country.
The largest number of voters -285,610 persons –were registered to vote in this region.
Initially, the verification process began on Tuesday but was stopped in the night after Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo complained of feeling tired.
However, the process which was scheduled to recommence on Wednesday at 09:00hrs, Mr. Mingo fell ill and was rushed in an ambulance to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The verification process was taken over by a Clerk according to GECOM, but political parties raised concerns over the validity of a spreadsheet the clerk was using to verify the results instead of the original SOPs.
This saw the process once again discontinued on Wednesday afternoon before a decision from the Commission to restart at approximately 18:00hrs and work through the night.
Subsequently, the verification process was stopped at about 21:30hrs after GECOM staff again complained about being tired and about unverified data being entered into the system.
The police were also called in when party agents alleged that SOPs were being tampered with.
Everything unfolded in the presence of Elections Observer Missions from the CARICOM, Commonwealth, Carter Center, European Union and the Organisation of American States (OAS) and local observers.
The process was again restarted and later suspended for a short break between 06:00hrs to 09:00hrs on Thursday. In the meantime, the police have increased their presence around the GECOM office to keep protestors at bay.
The News Room brought continuous live coverage of the events at the GECOM’s Returning Officer’s office at High and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown.
The Returning Officer of Region One declared that the APNU AFC received 3,839 votes and the PPP received 7,996.
In region 2, 7,293 votes went to the APNU AFC while 18,752 went to the PPP.
In region 3, the APNU AFC received 23,824 while the PPP received 47,890 votes.
In region 5, the APNU AFC received 14,475 votes and the PPP received 18,263.
In region 6, the APNU AFC received 20,350 and the PPP got 43,220.
In region 7, the APNU AFC received 4,836 votes and the PPP received 3,692.
In region 8, the APNU AFC received 2,086 votes while 2,041 votes went to the PPP.
In region 9, the APNU received 4, 826 while 7,065 votes when to the PPP.
In region 10, the APNU received 19,153 and the PPP received 3,202.
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