by James Tweedie

GUYANA’S ruling party has alleged fraud in the general election, with just 43 votes separating the two main presidential candidates.

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which has been in government since 1992, called for a recount in Monday’s parliamentary and presidential elections on Wednesday.

It claimed that the opposition Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) received almost twice as many votes as there were voters in some regions.

The PPP also expressed concern over the “extremely high” number of rejected ballots and accused the APNU of intimidating its representatives and chasing them away from polling stations.

And the APNU declared victory for its candidate David Granger on Tuesday, long before the vote was complete.

The Elections Commission released provisional results in the presidential race on Wednesday night, with 78 per cent of ballot boxes counted.

They showed that the PPP was ahead in seven out of 10 regions of the country, but that it trailed the APNU by just 43 votes in the ballot for the presidency, with 157,304 votes against 157,347.

But in contrast, the APNU claimed on Tuesday to have won some 180,000 votes for Mr Granger compared with 130,000 for the PPP incumbent Donald Ramotar.

But the APNU also said that most votes remained to be counted in its electoral strongholds.

Four other presidential candidates could count their votes in the mere hundreds.

The US-based Carter Centre gave its approval to Monday’s elections, despite violent clashes between rival party supporters.