Judge orders witness to produce 1997 elections documents
JUSTICE Claudette Singh yesterday ordered Gurdat Persaud, Returning Officer in Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands) for the 1997 general elections, to hand over 247 Statements of Poll (SOPs) he still has in his possession. The judge acted on a request by attorney-at-law Mr Saphier Husain, who is, as List Representative of National Independence Party (NIP), himself a respondent in the current elections petition. Persaud said he received the SOPs at 9 am on the morning of December 16, 1997 and Husain was cross-examining him on the authenticity of the unsigned ones and others with signatures he could not identify. The witness also promised to make another check for his misplaced rough notes that would show the different categories under which ballots were rejected. The witness, who had previously disclosed that he made two copies of a reconciliation list, undertook to retrieve the one he gave Chief Elections Officer Stanley Singh, another respondent, for use by counsel, as he cannot locate his. But Husain turned down the offer. Persaud was still under cross-examination when the proceedings were adjourned to Monday. Earlier, on the resumption yesterday, the witness recalled there were 247 Presiding Officers in Region Three and he was acquainted with them although he did not know their signatures. Persaud said it was imperative that those officials sign the SOPs and he compiled his report from those he received from his deputies. Thirteen of the SOPs were not signed but approximately 225 had been signed though he was not familiar with the endorsements and, therefore, could not vouch for their genuineness on the documentation sent him. Yet he relied on the very marks he could not authenticate, Persaud admitted, adding he had no doubt his deputies and persons who compiled the SOPs had properly identified the autographs. The witness acknowledged that some SOPs indicated ballots had been rejected for lack of official markings. He explained that could have happened if the Presiding Officer failed to stamp the official number on the ballot paper but he could not tell how many ballots fell into that category. Persaud pointed out that some votes were not counted for other reasons as well but he could not categorise any amount of the 1,353 discarded. In this case, People's National Congress (PNC) supporter Esther Perreira is asking the judge to invalidate the results of the 1997 polls on the ground that the process was so flawed it cannot be said to accurately reflect the will of the electorate. President Janet Jagan of the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic alliance and PNC Leader Desmond Hoyte are among the other List Representatives of contesting political parties cited as additional respondents. But, all of them, except Hamilton Green of A Good and Green (AGGG), have pledged to abide the ruling in this matter.
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