Georgetown: APNU+AFC counting agent and PNC/R member Ganesh Mahipaul on Tuesday admitted that he was using hearsay information to raise objections that persons who migrated voted in the March 02, 2020 elections.
This has resulted in a snail paced recount at the Arthur Chung Convention Center as GECOM tries to redeem itself in the aftermath of allegations of electoral fraud.
Mahipaul had personally made objections on the basis of migration but when repeatedly asked by reporters to adequately substantiate his claims he would only say that “the time for evidence will come, it is not that time as yet.”
He explained that it was always the APNU+AFC’s belief that this Official List of Electors (OLE) is bloated, that is, it contained names of persons who are deceased, and the names of those are no longer living in Guyana.
It is based on this assumption of the list being bloated that the APNU+AFC decided to embark on an “extensive” field operation. He said that field agents discovered that some persons on the OLE were either dead or not in the jurisdiction on March 2.
Strangely, Mahipaul also said that at each counting station the option presents itself for the provision of evidence when making the observations.
Notwithstanding, he failed to provide any evidence to support the allegations. He would only promise that the evidence will be provided if requested.
Pressed further for evidence on his claims, 14 days after the recount started and in the face of an increasing number of objections made, Mahipaul admitted that he hadn’t the physical evidence to support his claims.
“I am not claiming death, I don’t make the claim, I objected to migration… I don’t have access to immigration record,” he told reporters.
But just minutes before that, he told reporters: “I have backed up my allegation of migration… the migration record will show that.”
In response, a reporter asked: “with hearsay?” to which Mahipaul said: “yes, I’m not going to dispute hearsay.”
The APNU+AFC counting agent further noted that the party is making its objections from information received from family members of persons who were not in Guyana but are recorded as voted.
He wrapped up his comments on that issue by saying that the coalition will continue to make objections based on the “fieldwork” it has done and, in the event, that the Guyana Elections Commission requests the evidence to support those claims it will do so.
“GECOM will decide what they will do with the observation; if GECOM says they want evidence then we will provide the evidence,” he added.
He acknowledged that other persons in his party have been objecting to dead voters and that the APNU+AFC has over 100 death certificates in its possession. “I have copies of death certificates but in order for me to solidify if that person voted, the supervisor of the station will have to indicate that the person voted based on serial number,” he added.
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