Despite the growing anxiety among the populace, GECOM’s Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally said that the Commission was still awaiting more Statements of Poll (SoPs) while those in its possession were being processed.
GECOM had assured that it will ensure that the results of the General and Regional Elections are released in the soonest possible time. Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield had said provided that all went well on Election Day, the elections body would have tried to have the results available by Tuesday evening or by this morning.
On Monday morning, a media notice was sent out promising that GECOM will be announcing to the media Tuesday at 11:00h (at a press conference), the first set of Preliminary Results. However, as media operatives eagerly awaited the results, they were merely greeted with the information that the elections body had received more than 1500 official SoPs from various parts of the country, but could not produce any preliminary results 18 hours after the polls had closed on May 11.
Dr Surujbally’s statement was substantiated by the Chief Elections Officer, who said he was still awaiting the SoPs from Regions One, Seven and Eight, while several SoPs of the other regions had to be returned for corrections and checks as the Representation of the People Act dictated.
However, at another press conference which was called at 18:00h, GECOM said that the legal requirements stipulated under the Representation of the People Act, coupled with the wet conditions and other factors in the hinterland regions, were the reasons the results were being delayed.
According to Lowenfield, when a SoP is brought to GECOM, it is thoroughly checked for errors and discrepancies so as to ensure that there is no compromise or loss of integrity in the process. Lowenfield said that if it is found that a SoP has an error, whatever it may be, the Representation of the People Act demands that the SOP be returned to the Presiding Officer at the polling station from which the data was derived. It was on this note that he admitted that several errors were discovered and as such, these had to be returned. Lowenfield explained that this was a long and drawn-out process; hence, adding delays in the release of results.
Thus far, however, after almost 24 hours (up to press time), Lowenfield said that 279 SoPs were fully processed by the body. These were not confined to one area but were drawn from Regions Three, Four, Five, Six and 10. As it currently stands, the figures released by GECOM to the media indicate that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition was leading, followed by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
The coalition had a lead in the largely two party-race, with some 6797 votes more than the PPP/C in the General Elections and 4059 votes in the Regional Elections out of 29,000 counted votes. The Chief Elections Officer promised that by midday today, more results would be forthcoming since the other SoPs would have reached GECOM by then. Dr Surujbally maintained that the body was ensuring that the results are credible and would not sacrifice accuracy for expediency.
When questioned on the time taken by the elections body to provide the results of the elections when compared to other nations across the world, in the 21st Century, Dr Surujbally said he would like to see a change made in the next elections by having electronic systems in place.
“We cannot continue to remain with Jurassic methodologies … we cannot continue this way… we have, in the past, recommended that this system be changed,” he noted.
He urged citizens to remain patient, explaining that GECOM has to follow the law and ensure that the integrity of the results is maintained and the systems followed to ensure accuracy before dispatch.
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