GUYANA: Completed Recount Shows Opposition Taking One Seat Lead In General Election

(Newsroom)

With the tabulation of all 2, 339 statements of recount completed on Monday morning, it has been confirmed that the PPP won the elections by 15, 416 votes; it means the party will secure 33 seats in Parliament to take a one-seat majority.

Forty-year-old Dr Irfaan Ali, who led an ambitious housing programme to give cheap land to the poor during the PPP’s previous terms in government, is expected to be sworn in as president.

APNU+AFC, which in December 2018 collapsed on a No Confidence motion just three and a half years into its government, secured enough votes to take 31 seats. The group of three parties – ANUG, LJP and TNM – which agreed to combine their votes, secured one seat.

It will be the first time since 2015 that three parties will be in the National Assembly.

The PPP secured a total of 233, 336 votes; APNU+AFC secured 217, 920 votes. Together, ANUG, LJP and TNM secured 5, 214 votes.

The District Four recount showed that Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo declared figures that were heavily inflated to give APNU+AFC victory.

The recount votes will now have to be certified. That is expected to be done by the end of Tuesday.

Once all the certificates are in, the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield has to provide a report to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). This report will contain the total votes cast for each party and will include a summary of the observation reports from the statements of recount.

Lowenfield has until June 13 to do so. The Commission, consisting of the chair, Justice Claudette Singh and three commissioners each from the PPP and APNU+AFC, will then deliberate on it. They have until June 16 to ask Lowenfield to prepare a final report for them to declare the results of the elections.

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