MANY Guyanese are asking why it is taking so long to declare the winner of the March 2 Election. This is a legitimate question, after all, it has never taken this long to declare the results of an election in Guyana, or the wider CARICOM region. Of course, if you listen to PPP propaganda, you get the impression that the long delay is all the APNU+AFC’s fault. But nothing could be further from the truth; we are without a result because the PPP has conspired with others to block GECOM from declaring the winner.
As things stand, the Returning Officers of the ten administrative regions have already submitted their results to the Chief Elections Officer. But the latter was prevented from making the final declaration by the PPP’s use of the courts in a series of suspect cases and other delaying tactics. Each time, the court has made it pellucidly clear that the power to determine the process by which elections are administered lies with GECOM. Anyone who has followed elections in Guyana knows that parties which dispute electoral outcomes must do so via an Election Petition after the elections.
The Constitution is crystal clear about this, yet the PPP has sought to get the court involved in the process while it is unfolding. In effect, that party has been trying to change the rules of the game through a combination of frivolous court cases and outright bullying of GECOM. This is what is at the heart of the long delay we are experiencing. The Opposition Party has clearly decided that it would only permit the election to be duly completed if it is declared the winner. And what is most disgusting is that it has influenced otherwise level-headed citizens to cosign its grand scheme.
When all else failed, the PPP demanded a recount, although this was correctly rejected by GECOM’s secretariat. Both President Granger and GECOM’s Chairwoman, in the spirit of transparency, agreed to the recount. But that did not satisfy the PPP; they demanded to administer the recount themselves. They insisted that GECOM should adopt their modalities. They want ten weeks’ work to be done in ten days, and they want their friends to administer the recount. They want GECOM to disqualify its officers from the count; they want to be player and umpire at the same time. It is a case of every time you give them an inch, they demand a mile.
So, here we are, almost two months after the election, having to fight the dreaded COVID19 pandemic while the PPP insists on dragging on what has become an impasse. At some point, it must become clear that we cannot sensibly and effectively do both; the PPP must take responsibility for getting the country in this mess. Some citizens have floated the option of power-sharing as a mechanism to address the underlying political and ethnic tensions, but the PPP has flatly rejected that proposal; it wants all the power, despite losing the elections.
We have editorialised many times that while the government was busy governing, the PPP was hatching the plan, which has unfolded since March 2. It is amazing that Guyana’s oldest political party could be so politically callous; it is either their way or no way at all. But the truth must be told; we must continue to tear off the political masks from their faces, and let all Guyana see them for who and what they really are.
They should not be allowed to get away with fomenting a crisis, and then blame others for it. They are not the innocent ones; they are not the victims, they are the intellectual authors and the practical driver of the impasse that has caused the delay in declaring the true winners of the election.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_04_28_2020