Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield has acknowledged that the commission staff was at fault in the granting of controversial proxies during the November 15, 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE).
“The GECOM officer was at fault and the commission has since took action,” Lowenfield told a press conference on Friday. He did not indicate what action was taken.
Last November an investigation found that the procedures for the approval of proxies were breached during the voting process in Mabaruma.
Stabroek News understands that more than 100 approvals were granted for proxy voters by Registration Officer (RO) Ganesh Seecharran but a significant number of these have come under scrutiny. Seecharran apparently told investigators that he was “only trying to help.”
Concerns about proxy votes were first raised on the day of the polls, when a mother found another relative had voted on behalf of her sons though she had been approved to cast ballots on their behalf.
Further, approval for the casting of a proxy ballot was granted on the basis of one elector working outside of the area with a company that has since indicated that he was never in its employ.
These and other concerns caused APNU, which lost the Local Authority Area by two seats, to lodge a complaint with GECOM.
One APNU operative in the area explained to Stabroek News that an official complaint was lodged with the RO on November 14th and two officers from the commission arrived to investigate. There had been no public declaration of results during that time.
However, GECOM accepted the results issued by the RO as official and Commissioner Bibi Shadick had said that the secretariat has been informed that only through an official Elections Petition could they be challenged.
In a letter to the media, Shadick explained that Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers had asked that the commission consider whether results from Mabaruma should be published.
“The elections had been held and the final results had been declared by the RO and now here is the DCEO suggesting that the results of an investigation should be used to change or amend before publication the declared final results,” Shadick said, before adding that she informed the DCEO that when the RO declared the results he was “functus officio” and results of an election can only be challenged in a Court of Law by way of an elections petition.
Voters are entitled to vote by proxy if they are unable to go to the polling station where they are listed to vote because of physical disability or work commitments.
They may authorise someone listed on the same List of Electors to vote on their behalf at the same polling station but this is subject to the approval of the RO, who must investigate the veracity of their claims. The RO is usually accompanied by party scrutineers who examine all evidence presented in support of a proxy application and signs as having agreed with the RO’s assessment. Stabroek News understands that the APNU scrutineer was absent for several of the investigative visits carried out by the RO in Mabaruma and, therefore, did not sign some of the approvals.
