The Region 10 Geographic Seat The Alliance for Change Column
Kaieteur News
November 5, 2006

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The Alliance For Change has done the recalculations of the votes GECOM omitted from Region No. 10 and has now confirmed that it has won a sixth seat, the second Region No. 10 Geographical constituency seat.

Since the announcement of the 2006 Elections results on 31st August 2006, the AFC realised that an error was made, at the very least, as regards its purported loss to the PPP/C for the Region 10 Geographic Constituency seat.

When the announcement by Mr. Gocool Boodoo was made of that region's results, it reflected that the PPP/C got 3,189 votes as against the AFC which got 3,166. The entire monitoring team of the AFC was aware of something being amiss, namely, that several polling stations were not included in Mr. Boodoo's declaration. Among these were Watooka Primary School (Div. No. 012122B), Lyndon Johnson Community Centre I-Z (Div. No.012133H), New Silver City Secondary School Div. No. 012134C, Wisroc Nursery School A-Z (Div. No.012136B), and Kwakwani Primary School K-Z (Div. No.021241C).

The AFC has managed to confirm the votes cast in the ballot boxes of these divisions. This confirmation is corroborated by the scanned Statements of Poll given to AFC by GECOM. What the inclusion of these boxes' results has evidenced is that the final aggregate for the PPP/C in this Region is 3,273 votes as against 3,321 for the AFC. In view of the many checks and re-checks made, the AFC is firmly of the opinion that it should be re-allocated the Geographic Constituency seat for this Region which, for the error made, went wrongly to the PPP/C.

The AFC wishes to make it public that it did raise this issue with the proper authorities at the very inception.

1. On September 1st 2006, it was raised with Mr. Boodoo at a meeting with Mr. K. Ramjattan and Ms. S. Holder. The Chief Elections Officer maintained that from his authentic documents, his declaration was accurate and that he will stand by them. He promised to vindicate this by giving scanned copies of all Statements of Poll for all Regions.

2. At the AFC's Press Conference of 12th September, 2006, in connection with the court matter instituted by the AFC, concerns regarding the discrepancies in Region 10 results were commented on.

3. The Representative of the AFC's List, Mr. R. Trotman, in an interview with the Stabroek News on 15th September, 2006 again raised the discrepancies in votes in Region 10.

4. The AFC wrote on October 16, 2006, requesting a meeting with Mr. Boodoo regarding the declared results of Region 10.

5. The meeting was scheduled and re-scheduled twice. On October 20 it was finally held at Mr. Boodoo's office. Representing the AFC were Mr. K. Ramjattan, Mr. C Hall and Mr. D Patterson. The AFC team was informed by Mr. Boodoo that he could do nothing at that late stage as the results had already been Gazetted on the 19th October, 2006. Further, he opined 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 he had announced on 31st August, 2006. He advised that only a petition in the High Court could rectify the situation if indeed there was an error. This, notwithstanding Mr. Ramjattan's arguments that erroneous results could never be made irrevocable.

6. The AFC wrote a letter to Mr. Boodoo dated the 25th October, 2006 urging a remedy be found to this injustice to the AFC and its constituents of Region 10, especially in such a case where there was a patent error on the face of the record.

7. The AFC dispatched another letter early today to Mr. S. Surujbally and the other GECOM Commissioners urging that they intervene to remedy this injustice done to the AFC where it is being denied a Parliamentary seat which it is entitled to by law.

The fight to win back this seat from the PPP/C will be taken far and wide. Since no appropriate response has been forthcoming from GECOM to date, the AFC reluctantly notified the donor community and other major international stakeholders. The AFC has also informed its groups in the Diaspora. Our local representatives are well aware of the facts of this matter and have urged that a strong stand be taken to ensure that the AFC get its sixth seat in Parliament. Litigation is being advised. However, 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.

First Anniversary Observances

On Saturday, October 28, 2006 members of the Alliance For Change from throughout Guyana 's 10 Regions met at the St. Stanislaus College to observe the first anniversary of the movement. The occasion was marked by a symposium held to discuss a variety of topics and issues including the elections campaign of 2006, the appointment of Members of Parliament and Councillors to Regional Democratic Councils, and expectations for their performance, and most importantly the organisational structure and performance in the period ahead including the convening of the first delegates' conference.

Presentations were made by the movement's leaders, Khemraj Ramjattan, Raphael Trotman and Sheila Holder, Clayton Hall and others, and there was a lively and beneficial discussion on the topics and on ways in which the functioning and performance of the movement should be improved. The fact that a movement being less than one year old was able to compete against long established and entrenched parties and voting patterns and gain representation in all 10 Administrative Regions was noted as being historic and providing a strong foundation for future involvement in the socio-political environment of Guyana . Those gathered also accepted that mistakes and missteps were made but that these were to be seen as learning and strengthening experiences for the future. At the beginning of the session there was a minute of silence observed for murdered past-candidate Marlis Archer, whose death remains an unsolved mystery.

Many important decisions were taken including that to hasten the development of groups and regional executive committees in time for the inaugural National Conference to be held early in 2007. At the National Conference the election of the Office Bearers will be called to conduct, and ratification of the Constitution and Way Forward plans and programmes. A decision to have the movement acquire a property was also taken and a building fund established by those present who invited prayers for the sum collected and the work to be done.

Following the all day session, a social gathering was held at the Demerara Cricket Club which allowed an opportunity for the members and supporters to further interact and to celebrate the development of the Alliance For Change.