The main opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Sunday for the first time openly conceded that verification of the results would not change the outcome of the general and regional elections held almost two months ago. “We do not expect that the verification will reverse the major outcomes of the 2011 elections but we still need to get the elections right,” APNU Chairman, David Granger said on Christopher Ram’s weekly interview programme, Plain Talk. He, however, said his opposition coalition would still be pushing for the Statements of Poll for the November 28 polls to be reconciled as part of a process to clean up the operations of the Guyana Elections Commission. “Regardless of what the examination or the verification comes up with, we should move beyond running some sloppy elections. The results are too slow, the logistical arrangements are too backward and people need to know within a matter of hours what the outcome is,” Granger said.
APNU’s unofficial youth arm- Youth Coalition for Transformation (YCT)-has been calling for a complete overhaul of GECOM including the resignation of the commissioners and the Chief Elections Officer, Gocool Boodoo.
APNU had challenged the results almost immediately after they were declared on grounds that there had been discrepancies in tallying the results. The coalition had staged marches, demanding that GECOM hand over the Statements of Poll. When scanned copies were provided, APNU January 3 had told GECOM that there were significant discrepancies because the two sets of Statements of Poll were not identical.
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