Dear Editor
GUYANESE, as well as the regional and international community, continue to witness the undermining of the process to finalise the results of the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections, to allow for a declaration and swearing in of Guyana’s new president – in a transparent and lawful manner.
Within a matter of days, we have had two fraudulent declarations of election results in Region Four by a compromised returning officer, Clairmont Mingo’s, manoeuvres that undercut transparency and credibility in the electoral process and, today, efforts to frustrate and undermine an agreement for a CARICOM supervised recount of votes from the 2020 elections.
The filing of an injunction today (March 17, 2020) to block the agreed recount exposes the duplicity of President David Granger, those around him and those within the APNU+AFC coalition. It was Mr. Granger who called the CARICOM Chair, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, to say he did not want to be sworn in on the basis of disputed election results and requested a high-level CARICOM team to supervise a recount of the ballots. The PPP, although skeptical of his intentions, agreed to this, as a political solution to move our country forward and avoid negative consequences for our nation.
In addition to the delay in signing the aide-memoire, there have been consistent efforts to undermine the CARICOM agreement. The latest episode in this saga is having Ulita Moore, who was an APNU+AFC coalition candidate, file an injunction to stop the recount. Further, the moves by the APNU+AFC coalition to mobilise protesters across the country, with calls for Granger to be sworn in as president, shows the extent to which this cabal would go to destroy our democracy. The truth of the results of the 2020 General and Regional Election results is in the ballot boxes.
This is why the recount, specifically the recount of votes in Region Four , is being resisted. The numbers are clear. In addition to accepted declarations from nine regions, the party has made public all of its Statements of Polls (SOPs) for Region Four. A statement from the Organization of American States (OAS) electoral observer mission said: “The mission has noted that images of the Statements of Poll published by the PPP/Civic, on its website…[they] produce a result that is vastly different from that being declared by the returning officer and would have a decisive effect on the outcome of the national election. To date, neither the chief elections officer nor APNU has challenged the authenticity of the Statements of Poll published by the PPP/Civic by producing the copies in their possession.”
The PPP has also published, online, the tally sheets, signed by presiding officers across Region Four to support its GECOM-issued Statements of Poll. Again, there has been no challenge to these documents. The PPP wishes to underscore that APNU+AFC and its tiny cabal are alone in their misguided, foolhardy and regressive undertaking. The party will continue to fight for our democracy. The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is not alone in this fight. The international community, civil society and dozens of local groups and most of the smaller political parties, as well as the majority of Guyanese, are with us in this fight. We urge all Guyanese, particularly supporters of the PPP, to remain vigilant and calm; do not be provoked and ensure that no action is taken in contradiction with the laws of Guyana; stay at home and await further guidance from the party. There will be a time for a visible expression of disgust.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_03_19_2020