Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 15, 2012 News
….says it’s untrue, unstatesmanlike and should be withdrawn
Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier (ret’d) David Granger has lashed out at President Donald Ramotar’s
assertion that the 2011 General and Regional Elections were rigged in favour of the Opposition saying that his remarks are “untrue, unstatesmanlike, untimely and unhelpful,” and should be withdrawn.
Ramotar is quoted in an article in another section of the media as saying that the PPP/C was robbed of votes as a result of the manipulation.
“For sure, I think we had over 50 per cent…I think we lost some votes, no doubt, but I don’t think we lost enough to bring us under 50 per cent, but the results were through manipulation.
“My own realistic assessment was that we had probably between 52 to 53 per cent,” the President reportedly asserted.
Granger has since expressed dismay over the remarks.
President Ramotar in the article accused the Opposition of pursuing a strong “racial” line, of “manipulation” of the elections and of acting in “bad faith.”
Granger emphatically stated that President Ramotar’s remarks were factually incorrect.
“They had the added effect of fostering the false impression in the public mind that the Opposition parties had actually broken the law by practicing racism and perpetrating electoral fraud.”
In negotiations, according to President Ramotar, the Opposition was untrustworthy.
These charges Granger said had the potential to undermine the bases of the current tripartite discussions taking place among A Partnership for National Unity, the Alliance for Change and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic.
“President Ramotar’s remarks – to the effect that they renege on their promises and act in bad faith – are certain to sour the atmosphere of the talks and impair the goodwill APNU has tried to nourish,” Granger opined
Granger expressed disbelief that despite the gravity of these charges, President Ramotar “did not offer a shred of evidence”.
“President Ramotar claimed that the Opposition actually “penetrated GECOM and controlled [to some extent] the elections machinery, where they were not even taking instructions from the Chairman or the Chief Elections Officer and they were doing a lot of manipulation, but could not explain how this could have happened.’”
Granger was alarm
ed at Ramotar’s claim of racism. APNU stated that “Ignoring the PPP/C’s poor performance over the years, Ramotar claimed, baldly, “I think we lost some support there [in Linden] largely because the Opposition carried a very strong racial line in their campaign.”
In the article, the President is also quoted as saying, “They (Opposition) did a lot of wicked things in South Georgetown and some other areas, where they created an atmosphere not to have any PPP/C polling agents around, and they managed to get them out by terrible hostility and threatening violence and so on.
“Even with the counting, I understand that they kept people far away so that they could not see what was happening. That was confirmed to me by independent observers; so you are right, I think that there was some level of manipulation on the part of the opposition.”
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