‘No significant change in the numbers’ – Gunraj says as partial Reg. 4 recount moves ahead

With just over 100 ballot boxes recounted for a section of Region Four, there has been no significant change in the numbers declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Sase Gunraj, a government-nominated GECOM commissioner, told the media on Thursday evening.

“Of note and great importance, there is no significant change in the numbers that are already contained in Statements of Poll (SOPs) that have led to declarations. There is no significant change.

“There is perhaps a one here that might have been queried that questions are asked about, but by and large, there has been no significant change in the results.

“There is absolutely no way, unless something cataclysmic occurs and I don’t see that happening that the results will change in any significant way,” the GECOM Commissioner said.

Gunraj, is, however, concerned that the agents of the political party that requested the recount – A Partnership for National Unity –are not showing any “real” interest in the tedious recount process, giving credence to his earlier statements that it is delaying the inevitable re-election of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).

“While there are (party) agents in there, you are seeing no real interest from their leaders, you are seeing no real interest from their senior members, senior candidates, nothing like that. And it therefore begs the question if this is indeed a delaying tactic to frustrate the electorate and to frustrate this nation as a whole.”

There are 25 workstations involved in the recount process and there are agents from the six political parties that contested the September 1 polls to scrutinize the exercise. A total of 391 boxes have to be recounted for the subdistrict (East Coast Demerara).

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 for District Four.

Surprisingly, the PNC-led APNU got 46,956 votes in this district; this district was never lost by the PNC, which morphed into APNU in 2011, since Guyana gained independence in 1966.

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.