Georgetown: With hundreds of Guyanese gathered in front of Parliament Buildings to witness the historical opening of the 11th Parliament, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) took to the streets in front the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), as they continued their protests for a complete recount of the ballots of the 2015 General and Regional Elections.
Even though it appears as if all the odds are stacked against them, the PPP/C remains determined in its cause to stand up for its rights, as it once again staged a peaceful picketing exercise.
General Secretary of the PPP/C Clement Rohee said the party saw it fit to stage the protest rather than participating in the Parliament.
“Well this is continuation of our campaign for a GECOM recount of the votes and part of our campaign for Surujbally to resign as GECOM Chairman. It doesn’t matter to us whether Parliament is sitting at this time, what is important to us is that we are focusing on our goals and at this point in time, GECOM and these demands are our priority, not Parliament,” he said.
Still not giving a definite answer as to when it will be participating in Parliament, Rohee repeated that the PPP/C will participate in its own time.
“It depends on a number of factors and how we evaluate the political situation in respects to the future perspectives and the future of the country,” he noted.
As it relates to the selection of Members of Parliament (MPs), Rohee maintained that consultations are still ongoing.
Meanwhile, as the PPP/C support base conducted their exercise free from Police hindrance, passersby rudely hurled sly remarks in their directions in an attempt to discourage the supporters from representing exercising their democratic right by publicly and peacefully displaying their dissatisfaction with the turn of events within the country.
The PPP/C is grounded in its belief that the 2015 General and Regional Elections of May 11 were massively rigged and that the results were significantly manipulated to favour the A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
Since going public with these claims, the PPP/C has been calling on GECOM for a total recount of the votes, insisting that the simple recount would prove that their argument of an unfair election process is true.
On GECOM’s part, the body appears unwilling to grant the recount.
As a result of this conflict, notably even though a new Government is sworn in and a new Parliament is convened, the PPP/C is going forth to file an election petition in the courts to challenge the final election result.
Rohee explained that now the election results are gazetted, the party is now in a better position to move ahead with the petition.
According to the laws of Guyana, a political party has within 30 days from the gazetting of the results to file the petition.
The 2015 election results were gazetted on June 6.
With the clock ticking, Rohee said the party has already gathered a significant amount of data and evidence to include in the petition and it is still in the process of gathering more information to ensure they bring a stronger case.
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