Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission Dr Steve Surujbally said that in the light of the circumstantial evidence “it would be impossible to prove” who took the false Statements of Poll into the commission and as such, “I couldn’t see why we would proceed with an investigation.”
He said there will now be stricter security measures as it relates to how many persons will have access to the command centre where Statements of Poll are submitted during elections to come.
Surujbally said, “There is simply no proof. The circumstantial evidence still remains, but circumstantial evidence could not be used in a court of law.”
He added, “There is no further investigation in the matter, but that does not preclude the hierarchy in Gecom from believing that they know who the culprits are.”
Surujbally ventured that moving forward everyone in Gecom, including the hierarchy, commissioners and the chairman will need to be checked by security.
He said that to speak about anecdotal evidence would be tantamount to hearsay and would lead to rumour that would not be in the least beneficial to the integrity of the elections commission.
“You asked me as the Chairman and the answer is yes. I make it quite clear that not even the Chairman is exempt from searches,” he stated when the Stabroek News asked about the security measures that will be put in place for either a Local Government Election or the next General Elections in five years.
“The Chairman has to be more honest, clearer than Caesar’s wife. You have to lead by example and I would hate to know that a Chairman would hide documents,” Surujbally stated.
He said the revelation by Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield that 33 SOPs were believed to be forgeries came as such a shock. Surujbally told Stabroek News, “The truth of the matter is that nobody would have ever thought that something like that would happen, but it did happen and that is sickening.”
The Chairman said that in communications with his counterparts throughout the region there was disbelief that there was such a brazen attempt to malign the political process.
Surujbally stated that for his tenure as Chairman of all the challenges he had faced, “This one really hurt.” He said that within the next week Gecom will be meeting and possible changes to the security measures will be discussed and addressed.
The Chairman voiced that the commission must be above the political fray, but that in Guyana this too was difficult given the partisan dynamics at play. He did note that the feedback from the various observer groups pointed to a need to change the group formula, but did not say whether or not this was being contemplated.
General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Clement Rohee at a media briefing on Monday, stated that the investigation into the SPOs was identified in the party’s petition to the courts. He said the party has not been pushing nor will it be pushing for a comprehensive investigation into how the SOPs were taken into the commission’s command centre and by whom.
Rohee said the party will lobby for electronic voting among other measures they believe would dissuade any reoccurrence or falsifications.
Just after the May 11 General and Regional Elections the PPP had heavily lobbied for an investigation into the false SOPs. The issue dominated post-election press conferences by the party.
