The Electoral Commissioner, Irfan Rahman has no objection to a recount in Constituency no. 19. This is what he stated in the Supreme Court earlier this afternoon following the questioning of Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Mulloo by the lawyer, Me. Gavin Glover, who is representing Jenny Adebiro.
Mr. Mulloo conceded that there were some irregularities in the ballots counts of Constituency no. 19 during the elections of 2019. Judges Aruna Devi Narain and Denis Mootoo reserve their judgment and will soon deliberate on the matter.
In a statement to the press, Irfan Rahman maintains that after finding all these errors, it was his duty as an independent Electoral Commissioner to accept the recount. Irfan Rahman stated that he stands for transparency and added that this is not the first time he has accepted a recount.
As pointed out and explained by Me. Gavin Glover in court this afternoon, normally in every counting room of every counting center, the allocated number of ballots is 1200. But in constituency no. 19, in 3 located counting rooms, namely rooms 7, 10, and 11, the number of ballot counts varying between 1224 and 1226 has been noticed. Along with this variation, a surplus of 56 votes has been counted.
As a follow-up to the case, Jenny Adebiro is contesting the the election of former Deputy Prime Minister, Ivan Collendaveloo in Constituency no. 19 in 2019. The defeated MMM candidate is demanding a recount of the votes. After the results were counted, Ivan Collendavelloo was in 3rd place with 8,957 votes and Jenny Adebiro 4th with 8,867 votes, which is a difference of 90 votes. Jenny Adebiro also requested the Supreme Court to sift through rejected ballots to verify their validity.
During the past elections of 2019, Constituency no 19, Stanley and Rose Hill, consisted of 38433 voters with 28345 valid voters. The number of valid ballots went down to 28169.
The elected candidates for this region were as ranked: 1st, Berenger Paul (MMM) with 14368 votes representing a percentage of 50.7%; 2nd Deven Nagalingum (MMM) with 9250 votes representing 32.6%; 3rd Collendavelloo Ivan (Alliance Morisien) with 8959 votes representing 31.6% and ranked 4th Adebiro Olujare Jenny (MMM) with 8867 representing 31.3%. The best loser was ranked 5th, namely Daureeawoo Jeewa Fazila (Alliance Morisien) with 8678 votes representing 30.6%.
As a recall, in the Supreme Court on Monday 11th October 2021, the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) represented by Mr. Rishi Pursem, SC objected to a motion by Jenny Adebiro, the MMM’s deposed candidate at Constituency no. 19. Despite all, the debate on the electoral petition filed was allocated for January 12, 13, and 14. After today’s session, Jenny Adebiro expressed her relief and stated that “It has been a long wait“. But today is a relief, a sign of hope for Jenny Adebiro. The defeated MMM candidate is expecting a favourable ruling but she is already happy with the “very positive” note of the day.
