Chairman of Gecom Dr Steve Surujbally said yesterday that the Constitution was very clear on political parties involving themselves in Gecom’s work, as the PPP once again called for the names of polling day staff to be revealed.
Speaking at the PPP press briefing General Secretary Clement Rohee hinted that the Guyana Elections Commission selection and training of polling day staff was likely poor. He cited as an example, a Gecom presiding officer who had failed to stamp 19 ballots with the official stamp during the 2011 elections. He said the person was either poorly trained or had possibly intentionally spoiled the ballots.
“This individual took away the democratic right of 19 hard-working Guyanese who have their country at heart. Certainly, we do not wish for a repeat of this unfortunate occurrence. Further, there were several instances in Georgetown where presiding officers refused to accept PPP candidates at polling stations,” he said.
Calling once again on the commission to make public the names and details of all polling day staff, Rohee said, “This will serve to improve the confidence of the Guyanese people in Gecom and maintain its own integrity. He continued that the party was “strongly convinced that there were manipulations and distortion of instructions and communication to polling day staff in 2011. One would have drawn the conclusion that different training seminars were conducted with some polling day staff as opposed to others.”
Contacted, Surujbally said while the party was free to push for the publication of staff details, the Constitution was very clear about political parties involving themselves in Gecom’s work.
He said that if parties were stressing that some 12,000 people needed to be scrutinized that showcased an incredible lack of trust in the commission’s ability to conduct its work. He said that was the larger issue and Gecom had a job to do, adding that the mandates of individual political parties would not factor in.
Surujbally said the incident Rohee was speaking of “was not a mistake that changed anything. It changed nothing.”
He said it was “an unfortunate incident… the person who committed the deed felt so badly.” Surujbally said the incident occurred after the person had been in a confrontation with a member of a political party and was distracted.
The 19 ballots would not have affected the over 500,000 votes cast on Election Day, Surujbally said, hinting at the miscalculation of the poll results by former elections chief Gocool Boodoo which would have seen the PPP/C declared the winner by a majority.
He added that the staff member responsible for the 19 spoiled ballots would not be a presiding officer for the pending elections. All polling day staff will be privy to refresher training to ensure that those who are working on the day are the best prepared and equipped, he added.
Rohee’s latest remarks are part of a continuous onslaught on Gecom. Observers have said that the PPP’s continued criticism of the work of Gecom would allow the party to contest any election results that were not pleasing.
