-accuses Corbin of power play
PNCR executive member Aubrey Norton yesterday said that the voting process that saw him being ousted from the chairmanship of the Georgetown District on Sunday was “fraudulent,” and he accused party leader Robert Corbin of influencing the outcome in a bid to retain power ahead of a crucial biennial congress.
Aubrey Norton
Corbin yesterday said he was unaware of any fraudulent acts, explaining that while three complaints were received they did not concern any discrepancy in the vote.
“It is bare-faced for Mr Corbin to have sat and took part in the process and now try to say that the election was free and fair,” Norton, told Stabroek News yesterday. “It is merely an attempt to perpetuate himself in office by illegal means,” he added.
Norton was trounced in the elections by party co-Chair Volda Lawrence, who was widely believed to have been backed by Corbin. He lost the vote, 96 to 220. Norton said he had complained about the process before Sunday, as he saw blatant cases of padding of the voters’ list. He also said that 300 delegates were not present on voting day and as such it is surprising that it is reflected from the results that more than 300 persons voted. “For me it was not a fight with Volda Lawrence, it was really about her being used by Corbin,” he charged.
Questioned about his future with the party or what steps he plans to take in the light of the “fraudulent election,” Norton said, “I would want to keep that to myself until it is done.”
Stabroek News was present at Congress Place when chaos erupted as delegates shouted at each other, claiming that some persons were receiving more ballots than others, while others were not receiving any. Many persons, including Norton, stormed out of the party’s headquarters long before the voting was completed.
The Georgetown District sends the most delegates to the congress of the party and Sunday’s outcome is believed to be pivotal to Corbin retaining his post.
Robert Corbin
Lawrence, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, is seen as a Corbin ally and someone who could promote his candidacy. Sources say had Norton won he would have been in a better position to mount a leadership challenge. The last congress had already seen an acrimonious parting between the Corbin faction and Team Alexander – led by Vincent Alexander – and culminated in the recall of James McAllister from Parliament.
When questioned yesterday, Norton said that the situation on Sunday could not be compared to what happened in Alexander’s case, recalling that Alexander had withdrawn before the ballots were cast.
Transparent
But when contacted yesterday, Corbin said three complaints received were lodged with the returning officer and would be investigated. The complaints have nothing to do with a discrepancy in the vote, he stated.
Saying that he was present for the voting process and would be “aware if any fraudulent activities occurred,” Corbin asserted that the vote was transparent. Up to yesterday afternoon when he spoke with this newspaper, the PNCR leader said that there was no formal complaint on file about Sunday’s vote. He said the party was willing to investigate any such claims should a formal complaint be made.
Commenting briefly on the process itself, he stated that the representatives from both sides accompanied the ballots to have them counted. With respect to the results, he said that there was no word of any dissent from Norton and his supporters.
Corbin told Stabroek News that he was unaware of a “Lawrence and or Norton camp” prior to newspaper reports. He said that the candidates both conducted spirited campaigns, had strong support, and worked hard on the elections. Consequently, he said, that there would be obvious disappointment when one was unsuccessful at the vote.
More harm
than good
But while Corbin praised the voting process, Norton said the party leader did the party more harm than good when he manoeuvred the process to ensure Lawrence won. “Everybody saw that the process was fraudulent,” he said, adding that there was no roll call before the votes were cast and as such there was no way of knowing how many delegates were present. He charged that persons supportive of Lawrence were given more than one ballot.
He questioned why more ballot papers than delegates were printed.
Stabroek News had overheard Returning Officer Robert Williams calling on persons to return the extra ballot papers after the distribution to the delegates. And Norton said he had cause to complain before yesterday about the Brickdam group, which Lawrence and others claimed had a hundred members when he knew it had just about 30. He claimed other groups were created so as to pad the voters’ list.
Corbin, he said, wants to remain as party leader come what may and he said that in his address at the congress, he did not acknowledge that almost 90% of the party’s members did not support him as leader of the party. “He is just doing things to keep himself in office,” Norton said and added that the slate of Lawrence and the other office bearers was supported by Corbin. “It is sad that it is being done to people in the party and not out of the party,” Norton lamented and he stated that on Sunday those persons who were felt to be supporters of him were “surrounded”. He questioned how the party could talk about the Elections Commission and a flawed voters’ list when it was doing the exact thing.
Meanwhile, Norton joined the voices of some other members and called on the party leadership to stop using some people to be involved in thuggish behavior as they “are destroying the party”.
corbin should resign, all these controveries surronding corbin.
Your home team is a disgrace!!! give it a rest man.
Go “Operation Solid Shield 2011″ PNC Go!
Oh the IRONY of it all !!!! LOL
When dog like suck egg……disgraceful .
Couldn’t agree more !!
Where are the Burnhamies to today???
Just a few weeks ago, Norton was insisting to Can West Charles that the process was democratic, as he did as well with Team Alexander. Oh ironies of Ironies indeed!
Norton, this one is dedicated just for you and all those like you who, with your willingness to turn a blind eye to blatant wrongdoing, have been the albatros around Guyana’s neck:
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then… they came for me…
And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”–Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)
Huh! Re: “Where are the Burnhamies to today???”???
Oh Mary, Mary Go And Bring The (”Russian” and “Chinese” Bred) Cattle Home. The “Burnhamies” are practicing the line “All Were Given Liberty By The Might Of PNC”!
Yo Kaieteur gold mek ah show yuh dis “reasonin” ah muss agree wid yuh dat beside de “illegality” de pnc did rule by might ,, de kind aided by misguided misfits and “arms” de kine de mayah use to pull pon people ,, who got in his way !….
it’s always wat yuh seh ,, an ah know tuh dat ,, yuh have been mirandized b4 ,, or de least ,, very nearly was ! breds yuh gon live lang ,, abt 2 hrs ago i had u in mind ,,, stay safe an healthy ,, all ahwe is GUYANESE ! hate is a cancer ,,, 1 love muss prevail !…..
Norton your complaints about bogus membership are just “red herrings”. It was you Mr. Norton who only a few weeks ago proclaimed how democratic the process was. It was you Mr. Norton who was refusing to issue membership forms o anti Corbin supporters. It is not Volda that is being used it was you that was used, trouced and then disposed of.
Why is Aubrey Norton now crying and screaming like a stuck pig? He is now feeling the brunt of the policies and actions created by he and his friends.Norton cannot have it both ways.His cry now shows the world what we all know about the PNC and the democratic process. This is a case of ” E tu Norton.”
hahahhaah well said RH well said, Norton should have been hollering that a long time back all of a sudden its no fair when applied to him.
Well said comrade Norton. I was there and i saw. The method of ballot distribution left much room for rigging and fraud and the three complaints that the leader was talking about, actually took place during the voting process and were questioning the very procedures that the leader is saying were good. Quite frankly, i have lost all respect for this guy a long time ago. The georgetown district was the beginning of the battle for change in the party. I would urge most of my fellow comrades to get involve and engage the system. We can no longer be innocent bystanders in this process. Too much is at stake.
imagine you can’t run an election involving 300 voters how will you run a national election. Call the Iranian let them run it.
The PNC needs a very long ‘Time out’in the corner. You guys are behaving like kids fighting in the sandbox.
After all of this finger pointing about rigged votes, I don’t see how this political party can begin to organize themselves, in order to successfully compete in a general elections.
Turn off the lights folks this party is over…It’s been over for a long time now. I think that Burnham is turning in the grave with anger.
Re: “imagine you can’t run an election involving 300 voters how will you run a national election. Call the Iranian let them run it…”
What is wrong with your memory… the Observers will have to come from a place in the USA called IOWA!
Go PNC!
or jagdeo he running GECOm right jimmy?
I would say he is a poor looser that should not be in politics. you are asking the people for their support not demanding it or you can’t tell them how to vote even your mother
Oh Burnham turning in his grave with anger Cochore??? Is Burnham thought them to rig elections, they living with his lagacy…
Re: “Burnham thought them to rig elections, they living with his lagacy…”
So, what was learned from “Cuffy” and “Accra”…. “Soldier”!!!
I attended the Linden Town Day on a recent vacation in Guyana and was surprised at the comtempt so many expressed for Mr Corbin and his performance as leader of the party.
It appears, from your article, securing leadership of the party is more important than the maintenance of the base of supporters and, by extention, improved performance at the national polls. Voters are hardly likely to gravitate towards a party whose membership conducts their affairs in this manner.
First things first. What right you have minding other people’s business if you are not now resident there and without any voting rights.
Secondly, are they speaking Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian officially in “Linden Town” yet seeing that the Russians and the Chinese are in control of the bauxite industries and the Brazilians (following the construction of the Takutu Bridge) will now be poised to dominate the precious mining industries in Guyana. So, should these matters or should Corbin be the focus of the Guyanese voting nationals.
Corbin is depriving Guyana’s main opposition party of any credibility whatsoever–all of this despite him leading the PNC to its worst lost in election’s history.
Without power or a credible opposition, there really is nothing anyone could do about the problems you indicate, however much you seem blind to Corbin holding unto party leader by any means necessarry, however much it may hurt his party or however much it is hurting Guyana.
oh shout up and move on. share trash.you loose deal with it.
This party is self destructing and the earlier this destruction is completed the better for the future of Guyana. Corbin is an abject failure in more ways than one. The man lacks charisma and leadership qualities. Let the P.N.C. die. I hope the P.P.P. follows the same route.
Charity begins at home. Fraud simpliciter in-house the PNC logically deducts fraud of the most massive kind when competing with other parties. Is the PNC any good for Guyana? The answer is a resounding NO. We must get rid of the PNC for the sake of a better Guyana. Without the PNC the PPP wil not be able to breathe. Let’s get them out of town.
Norton should be glad he got so many votes. Years ago, as a returning officer, at a certain polling place in Berbice. The PNC was challenged by a Group called PEP in a local government election. The night before the election LFSB asked them to withdraw. They did not. Half an hour after the polls closed, the PNC was declaired the winner, PEP received TWO VOTES. Apparently PEP’s members nor their family members did not vote. I saw vote with my own eyes. Norton boy, they gave you some respect.
Yesterday I had a really good laugh at the PNC, Today I just feel sad for these selective clubbers of pathetic has-been’s trying to hold onto what no longer exists for them. Corbin, has lost the one thing politicians vie for the most ‘Public respect’ Under his (corbin’s) watch this club has become non-essential to Guyanese and our life. Go Corbin Go before you embarrass yourself.
This sound very childish to say that 90% of the members did not supported Corbin (get real).
The other statement is that the Georgetown District is there to keep Corbin in Office; this is another foolish statement because many knows better that Georgetown District alone cannot keep Corbin in office as Leader other Party Groups have to support him to become the Leader of the Party.
The returning officer who conducted the election would have known if some thing was going wrong. Because Robert Williams was a former Minister of the PNC and knows what he was doing? I also read in the statement that both candidates had scrutiny’s to witness the counting. I like Aubrey and Ms Lawrence but sometimes accepting defeating is difficult people say one thing and do something else and this may be in this case of the voting.