Speaking at a media conference yesterday, Party Leader Khemraj Ramjattan stated that the AFC is certain that it won a sixth Parliamentary seat at the August 28 polls, owing to the omission of results from several polling stations in Region 10.

These, he added, were excluded from the results declared by Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Gocool Boodhoo on August 31.

The results published by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) shows that the PNCR-1G gained 7, 212 votes, the PPP/C 3,189 votes, and the AFC 3,166 votes.

However, Ramjattan stated that based on the inclusion of the omitted Divisions and the scanned Statements of Poll given to the AFC by GECOM, the results should show that the PPP/C gained 3,273 votes as against 3,321 for the AFC.

Should the AFC results hold true, then the new seat allocation for Parliament will see the AFC with six seats, PPP/C 35 seats, PNCR-1G 22 seats and the TUF and GAP/ROAR one seat each.

He posited that the AFC has not ruled out litigation but noted that such a course of action could take some three years to complete or half the life of the Ninth Parliament.

“We feel that it is significant enough and all the talk and rhetoric about the political will for the people must be abided by should now be adhered to by the party that has that seat for Region Ten, the PPP. They should now ensure that it be given to the AFC; that can take care of it and that is where justice will be done to the AFC,” Ramjattan stated.

GECOM sources told Kaieteur News that at Tuesday's Commission meeting, the AFC matter was raised and the CEO has been tasked with providing the Commission with a comprehensive report which will also include several options on a way forward.

The PNCR-1G which won Region 10 and the PPP/C, the runners-up were each awarded one seat from the two Regional Constituency seats contested in the region.

The PNCR-1G extracted Vanessa Kissoon as its Region Ten representative in Parliament while the PPP/C extracted Prime Minister Samuel Hinds as its Region Ten representative.

Contacted yesterday, the People's Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) General Secretary Donald Ramotar stated that his party has operated based on the results received from GECOM.

“We only know of GECOM results,” Ramotar alluded in brief comments on the matter.

Sources close to the PPP/C pointed out that Prime Minister Hinds is also on the PPP/C's National Top-up List and could retain his seat in Parliament, but this means that another Member of Parliament on the Government's side may have to give up a seat.

The AFC has written to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and several Diplomatic Missions alerting them to the discrepancies.

Ramjattan identified the omitted districts as Watooka Primary School, Lyndon Johnson Community Centre I-Z, New Silver City Secondary School, Wisroc Nursery School A-Z and Kwakwani Primary School K-Z.

He alluded that a decision to approach the PPP/C will avoid the party going the route of litigation.

“The AFC believes that the PPP/C should give up that which it does not deserve, both by law and by the will of the Electorate. This is the only decent thing to do. A mistake was made and it ought to be corrected as quickly as possible,” Ramjattan stated.

The AFC had raised the Region 10 issue during a September 1 meeting with Boodhoo, where the CEO maintained that from his authentic documents his declaration was accurate and that he will stand by them.

On October 16, the AFC wrote requesting a meeting with Boodhoo regarding the declared results of Region 10.

According to the AFC, the meeting was scheduled and re-scheduled twice before an October 20 meeting was held at Boodhoo's office.

At that meeting, Boodhoo informed the AFC team that he could do nothing at that late stage as the results had already been gazetted on October 19.

The AFC team included Ramjattan, Clayton Hall and MP David Patterson.

AFC Vice-Chairman Sheila Holder refuted claims that the AFC's computation might be incorrect, since corrections had to be made on some of the Statements of Poll and that the AFC's Region 10 Asst. Chief Scrutineer had signed off the results that were eventually declared.

AFC 2006 Presidential Candidate Raphael Trotman noted that the refusal of GECOM and its Secretariat to correct the mistake will erode the perception and confidence that the elections were free and fair.

“In the face of what is an obvious error and we have not elevated yet to fraud, if they refuse or fail to address it it will undermine eventually the perception that we had elections. If this is the first chink in the armor I am sure that if you keep digging you will find many more. We are in for a long battle which could be made short if good sense prevails,” Trotman stated.