…as Region Four votes finally declared

After more than a week of confrontations and legal actions, the votes for District Four for the General and Regional Elections were finally declared by the Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo on Friday night, amid heavy police presence at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) High Street, Kingston Headquarters.

According to the declaration, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) secured the highest number of votes in both the General and Regional Elections followed by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

In the General Elections, APNU+AFC secured 136, 057 votes in District 4 (Demerara-Mahaica), while the PPP/C raked in 77, 231 votes. A New United Guyana (ANUG) secured the third largest number of votes with 1,387 votes, followed by Change Guyana with 919 votes; Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) with 761 votes and The Citizenship Initiative, 463 votes. The People’s Republic Party got 389 votes and The New Movement (TNM) 128 votes while the United Republican Party only managed to rake in 90 votes.

Meanwhile, in the Regional Elections, the APNU+AFC secured 130, 289 votes while the PPP/C raked in 74, 877 votes. Change Guyana received 914 votes while 752 votes were cast in favor of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP); 401 in favor of the People’s Republic Party; 125 in favor of the Victory of the People Party and 98 votes in favor of the United Republican Party.

Notably, the votes declared by Mingo vary from his initial declaration, which has since been nullified by the High Court over breach of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03. In initial declaration, Mingo had indicated that the APNU+AFC secured 136, 458 votes in the General Elections and the PPP/C 77, 329. In the case of the Regional Elections, it was indicated that the APNU+AFC had secured 136, 335 votes and the PPP/C 77, 258 votes. It is not sure what may be the cause for the variation in votes.

Nonetheless, the Returning Officer made significant headways in tabulating the Statements of Poll (SOPs) for his Electoral District on Friday after Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire offered clarity on what was required during the tabulation process.

Since the March 2 General and Regional Elections, the tabulation process for Region 4 was marred with a series of events, from the Returning Officer and his staff falling sick, to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic storming the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) command center, to an injunction barring the declaration of the results and subsequently, a series of objections.

Last Wednesday, the Chief Justice invalidated the March 5 declaration made by Mingo after it was found that he had tabulated the SOPs in the absence of persons entitled to be present as outlined in Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act. But one day after she handed down her ruling, the process was again suspended following a series of objections on Thursday, and Contempt of Court proceedings were later filed by the PPP/C through a private citizen. However, there was breakthrough in the process on Friday afternoon after the matter was again addressed by the Chief Justice.

Moments after the declaration of the results was made by Mingo at around 23:00hrs on Friday, Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander expressed satisfaction that the process had finally ended, and was conducted in the presence of party agents and observers as prescribed by the law.

In an earlier interview with the press that night outside of GECOM’s Headquarters, where the tabulation had been moved to, Alexander said the process was being done in keeping with the ruling of the High Court.

“The procedure is that they are putting up the Statements of Poll on a screen and a GECOM officer is reading out the numbers and that’s the process,” he explained on Friday night.
Earlier in the day, Chief Justice had explained that the Statements of Poll had to be displayed during the tabulation process in keeping with Section 85 of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03.

Representatives from the PPP/C and a number of smaller parties have alleged that though the process appeared more transparent that it had been earlier and days gone by, not all of the SOPs appeared legitimate.

“Since I have been in there, I have not heard any discrepancy raised, that does not mean there is no discrepancy,” Alexander said in response to a question put to him about discrepancies being raised by some party agents.

Alexander said based on his knowledge, the original SOPs were being used while shutting down claims of photocopied SOPs being used.

“I don’t know about photocopied SOPs being used for this reason, SOPs came in books of four. One would have written on the first copy, and that would have printed through to the remaining three copies. I don’t know if you would call it photocopied in that sense,” he reasoned.

Questioned whether the SOPs displayed on the screen were clear, Alexander responded in the affirmative but said that they could have been clearer. “When I said could be clearer, I am not seeing alteration. What I am seeing, is not the clearest of images but it is a question of technology,” he further clarified.

Contrary to reports by the PPP nominated Commissioners, Alexander said there has been no violation of the electoral laws. “As I understand it, there is an obligation to do a tabulation in the view of the persons who are entitled to be there, to the extent to which one throws up a screen, and the numbers they put up there, at the end, the summation, represent that tabulation,” he posited.

However, he explained that if party agents have concerns over discrepancies, they could make note of them and at the end of the tabulation when the declaration is made, formally request a recount of the votes.

But although the SOPs were being produced during the tabulation process in accordance with the High Court ruling, PPP/C nominated Elections Commissioner Robeson Benn said the opposition will challenge the results. According to him, the opposition parties will likely request a recount. Outside of the GECOM headquarters, pockets of APNU+AFC supporters gathered at different streets as they awaited news of the declaration.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-14-2020

CHIEF Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire, on Friday, said the Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, must produce the statements of poll (SOPs) during the tabulation of votes for his electoral district, as she offered greater clarity to her March 11 judgment. “The statement of poll has to be shown,” Justice George-Wiltshire said. At the time, the Chief Justice was hearing a contempt of court case brought against the returning officer by a private citizen – Reeaz Holladar – over an alleged failure to adhere to the orders handed down by the High Court on March 11, 2020.

While the tabulation process, in keeping with an order of the High Court, recommenced at 11:00hrs on Thursday last, the returning officer resorted to the use of a spreadsheet for the tabulation of the votes in the reported absence of the SOPs – a move which resulted in major objection from agents attached to some political parties. The disagreement later resulted in the tabulation process being suspended for the day, and Holladar moving to file Contempt of Court proceedings on behalf of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).

Appearing on behalf of the returning officer, who was present in the court, in association with Attorney-at-Law Robin Hunte, Senior Counsel Neil Boston told the Chief Justice that his client has been adhering to the orders of the High Court despite attempts to derail the process by some. But in responding to a series of questions posed by Justice George-Wiltshire, Boston explained that the returning officer had placed the contents of the SOPs and the polling station number on a screen for the duly-appointed candidates and observers to view.

“If it is that you are getting it from this document [the SOP], why you just can’t show the document,” the Chief Justice questioned, while making it clear that the returning officer must produce the SOPs during the tabulation process.

Even as Boston sought to interject, the Chief Justice further added, “I don’t see…what is the difficulty in producing the document.”

While making it clear that it is not for the representatives from the various political parties and observers to disrupt the process by raising concerns after concerns, Justice George-Wilshire said they are entitled to view the SOPs in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03.

“They want and are entitled to see it [the SOPs] because Section 84 (1) says that the tabulation is to be done from the statements of poll in the presence of persons [entitled to be there],” Justice George-Wiltshire said. She noted that the method of tabulation, be it, the use of a pencil and ruler or spreadsheet, ought to be determined by the returning officer and not the persons entitled to be there.

It was noted that party agents can make note of their concerns and at the end of the process, formally request a recount or challenge the results of the elections by way of an election petition.

The Chief Justice offered greater clarity on her ruling after GECOM and Holladar’s representatives failed to come to an agreement during a brief adjournment of the case on Friday.

Prior the brief adjournment of the case, the Chief Justice reminded the parties involved that during her ruling she had indicated that all and sundry ought to be “reasonable” in the execution of the exercise. She noted that the tabulation of the results was being dragged out and time wasted even as the country awaits the final results for the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

“We have a nation awaiting; and this is a lot of posturing and grandstanding on all sides. Why can’t we just get on with it,” she questioned. Meanwhile, outside of the courtroom, Boston assured journalists that going forward, the SOPs will be used to tabulate the votes for each list of candidates, who had contested the general and regional elections in District Four. “It is going to happen,” he assured journalists, explaining that the actual SOPs will be displayed on a screen in addition to the station number.

Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, who had intervened following Thursday’s objections, said she was pleased with clarification offered by the Chief Justice, and will ensure that the returning officer complies with the ruling of the High Court. “It was a consensual agreement that the [SOPs will be displayed] and if there is a discrepancy to be addressed, we will go through with the count until the end, and…it will be addressed at the end. If it cannot be addressed, then we will move to a recount,” Justice (Ret’d) Singh explained.

Meanwhile, Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall, Holladar’s legal representative, said he was pleased with the clarification by the Chief Justice, even as he underscored the importance for transparency in the tabulation of the votes from the SOPs for the more than 800 polling stations in District Four.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-14-2020 

Dear Editor,
This letter is being dictated in the midst of uncertainty as we await the results of our 2020 elections.

It is also written as we approach the proverbial ‘Ides of March.’
This was a time in the Roman calendar that the Mighty Julius Caesar ignored warnings to stay indoors. He ventured out and this led to a well-known tragedy in history. I liken our political leaders to the Mighty Caesar and this open letter is an appeal for them to stay indoors, avoid provocative language and instead seek enlightenment through prayers and fasting. I was around for the entire week and spoke with people of every race, age and creed.

Without exception, they are all anxious for a settlement so that they can get on with their lives.
In other words, an appeal to our leaders to ‘MEND, NOT REND.’
Our leaders ought to be reminded that a consistent feature observable in every continent has been an attitude of arrogance and stubbornness by political parties.
Their policies, not consistent with their immediate and long-term interest.

One author observed “Mankind it seems, makes a poorer performance of government than an almost any other human activity.”

With all information available to leaders, in an out of office, we can properly quote the old folks who say “common sense is not so common.”
If our leaders representing our social and political divide wish to honour our Amerindian brothers and sisters, the slaves who suffered the worst form of brutality in modern history and indentured labourers who were exploited by the plantocracy, we must demand our leaders who purport to speak for these descendants to sit and talk and no matter how long it takes, to find a modus vivendi.

Our young and old leaders and those led must know that history has a puckish way of repeating itself. We need to have the good sense to learn from the horrors of earlier experiences. A few days ago, we note painfully, the attack on innocent school children in a bus. This month marks the anniversary of a similar occurrence when activists of a certain political party threw a bomb in a school bus on the lower East Coast Demerara, which killed little Godfrey Teixeira, injuring the D’aguiars’, Pierres’ and the Dodds’ children.
This attack on the school bus caused much outrage. History must tell them that well-meaning as outsiders may be if we are to make our Golden Arrowhead meaningful. These outsiders or observers, or what have you, can do little to be a real bridge over troubled water because they do not know all of our history.

I noticed the battalion of observers, some who don’t understand our culture and the tricks of the trade feel duty bound to speak. We have the five CARICOM Heads of Government who arrived on Wednesday afternoon; as a courtesy we must welcome them. It is not the first effort by CARICOM leaders to try to calm the troubled waters of Guyana.
In the 1960s, the late Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago Dr. Eric Williams, hosted separate meetings with the leadership of the United Force, People’s Progressive Party and the People’s National Congress. As a member of the PNC Delegation, we all returned home empty-handed. No one was willing to budge.

When a similar situation occurred during an Independence Conference in London, one of our leaders invited the Representative of Her Gracious Majesty Government in England to break the deadlock stating that he had ‘great faith and confidence in the British sense of fair play and justice.’ When the British made the recommendations, not pleasing to one side, all hell broke loose in Guyana. Lesson – Outside forces may help but ultimately, we must navigate through the storms and tempest.
LET US LEARN TO MEND, NOT REND.

It is a sad reflection on us as a nation that we seem unable to learn from our own history and that of others. I listened with amusement and amazement when we are threatened by local representatives of big nations and their Guyanese surrogates and un-emancipated political and business leaders. The great nations, whether it be Russia, US, China, UK or European, their interest have always been with the wider geo-political landscape.

It is this policy which explains interventions in the Philippines, the Far East, Vietnam and nearer home, Grenada. The key to unlock the door to progress and prosperity is in the hands of our local leaders and no one else. We do not need partisan politics, but a movement to release the creative energies of all the people of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, so that, for example, when we discuss the development of our resources, the global giants of industry must know that they are bargaining on behalf of one hundred per cent of Guyanese.
We mend and not rend.

Regards,
Hamilton Green

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-14-2020 

…questions objectivity of Bruce Golding

The APNU+AFC Coalition said it has taken note of the statement issued on Friday by the Organization of American States Observer Mission to Guyana and that it is alarmed by the missive.

“The APNU+AFC is alarmed by what purports to be a wholly partisan statement which fails to take into account the provisions and procedures set out in the laws of Guyana and the ruling of the Chief Justice as to the methodology to be employed for the tabulation of votes,” the coalition said in its statement.

It said too that the head of the mission former Jamaica Prime Minister Mr. Bruce Golding who left office mired in controversy has found himself in another controversy as leader of the OAS delegation to observe the Guyana 2020 elections.

“Prior to his arrival in Guyana, Mr. Goulding had admitted that he is a close personal friend of Leader of the Opposition Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo and other leading members of the People’s Progressive Party. Mr. Golding is also an avowed self-confessed house guest of Mr. Jagdeo at his seaside mansion,” the coalition said.

The coalition said the Government of Guyana took Mr. Golding at his word that notwithstanding his intimate relations with the political opposition he could and would remain impartial. “Recent statements and action by the OAS Observer mission now leave many to question whether or not the PPP managed to compromise him and his colleagues,” the statement concluded.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-14-2020 

Dear Editor, 

The Justice For All Party is one of the six parties in the coalition. 

We do believe in democracy and will not stand for misconduct by any party. Th.is is why we waited for the official count to be completed. It is absolutely essential that there be transparency in the process that GECOM is engaging in – a process that will finally determine the Pres­ident and leadership of this country. We have to respect the fact that a court order has been issued. We have to accept also that the court order empowers the RO to utilise a meth­odology of his choice. There seems to be widespread discontent and disapproval of what is being done correctly as guided by our CJ, it is blatant contempt for the rule of law and for the Chief Justice, Roxane George-Wiltshire. We the JFAP appeal passionate­ly to all involved, that we allow the legal understanding as sanctioned by our courts to be unhindered. In addition, there is also contempt for the leadership ofGECOM because it is headed by a woman. Sunday March 8 had marked International Women’s Day; a day put aside for the recognition of women, their abilities, their efforts, there strengths and necessary skills for the development of the world in which we live in. It would appear that, that day and its significance are lost on those who have in no way indicated the need to extend the necessary respect to the honor­able citizen Retired Chief Justice, Claudette Singh. We tl1erefore call upon a]I parties to allow the official process to be finished. We call upon the people to remain calm and await tl1e results. \Ve all should accept the results from GECOM as final.

Rtgards, 

Chaudranarinc Sharma 

Leader of TFAP

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-14-2020 

Dear Editor
The Demerara Waves published story of March 13, 2020, entitled ‘ACDA call on Western Nations to Stop Recolonization, Intervention in Guyana’s Electoral Process’, is a manufactured controversy and is designed to obfuscate from the real issue of electoral fraud in Guyana at this time.

The laws of Guyana, Section 4 (1) and (3) of the General Elections (Observers) Act, provide for electoral observer missions. It should be noted that also present in Guyana were the CARICOM, OAS and Commonwealth electoral observer missions, and their stance in the drama that has played out so far in our country is no different from that of the Western Nations.

The tone and content of ACDA’s missive is highly suspect, since they have made accusations about recolonization and have stoked fear among people. We find the statement – “We the African Guyanese reject the dictates of our former colonial power the UK, and its kit and kin the USA, Canada and the EU who seem to think that they have the right to meddle in our electoral process as they see fit, ignore the rule of law and cast aside when they feel like the judgments of the courts” – misplaced, misguided and misconstrued and have no basis in fact. Even the analysis of a novice will find the statement a presumptuous departure from what can be considered as current affairs.

The vast majority of Guyanese, including large sections of the Afro-Guyanese population and, in addition, significant numbers of persons who voted for APNU+AFC, do not accept that any of the electoral observer missions were meddling in Guyana’s election process or were ignoring the rule of law in Guyana. No spin doctoring will change the issue at hand, which remains the defense of democracy, rejecting electoral fraud and standing for principles and international best-practices as it relates to free, fair and credible elections. We reject the interjection of race at this time and to stoke the flames of hatred amongst our people.

It is not just abominable, but it is a shameless excuse for the hijacking of democracy and the imposition of a dictatorship in Guyana. ACDA is shameless in finding a reprehensible excuse, in the face of condemnation from across the world, through the various organizations representing the various regions of the world, not just from the ABCE countries. About 80 international organizations have also condemned what is taking place. That said, far from it, most Guyanese felt assured with the presence of the election observer missions, which have played a positive role in the past ensuring free and fair elections in Guyana, and which they are trying to do now.

ACDA did not find anything wrong with the presence of these same observer missions in 2015. We recall that in 2014 when the former PPP/C government prorogued Parliament, it was APNU and AFC that called on the ABCE countries to sanction the PPP/C Government. ACDA did not think it wrong to call on these countries to sanction the PPP/C Government. When these countries took a position that the former PPP/C government should end the prorogation, ACDA found this a proper action. ACDA did not find those actions as recolonization or interference in Guyana’s affairs. It is clear to us that ACDA is not protecting the interest of the Afro-Guyanese people or that of the Guyanese people.

By no means is ACDA the mouthpiece of all Afro-Guyanese. The PPP/C speaks for all Guyanese, at all levels – given that the PPP/C has support among significant sections of the Afro-Guyanese people and has Afro-Guyanese in its leadership levels.

Regards
Brigadier Mark Phillips
Bishop Juan Edghill
Joseph Hamilton
Odinga Lumumba
Gillian Burton

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-14-2020 

Dear Editor,
The interventionalist stand taken by elements of the diplomatic community and some foreign observers that is preventing GECOM from completing its work is an attempt at controlling the electoral process of an independent country, the subversion of Guyana’s judicial process and undermining its democracy.

We African Guyanese reject the dictates of our former colonial power the UK, and its kit and kin the USA, Canada and the EU, who seem to think that they have the right to meddle in our electoral process as they see fit, ignore the rule of law and cast aside when they feel like the judgements of our courts. All these powers, who enslaved Africans, are guilty of the worst atrocities against mankind and have done nothing to compensate the victims for that injustice. If we accept this arbitrary intervention in our internal affairs, Guyana is, in effect, conceding that its sovereignty and independence are the preserve of others.

This peculiar recolonisation effort is displayed in the relentless attempts of some ambassadors to keep African Guyanese under the control of foreign sovereigns. This view is evidenced by the known fact that one of the vocal ambassadors in Guyana is seen regularly and intimately in the company of known opposition activists and another was found aiding the departure of Charandass, who moved to oust the APNU+AFC Government from power.
ACDA views their present positions as an extension of their disregard for the sovereignty of Guyana and as a cloak to hide their partisian disposition towards people of African descent. ACDA therefore calls on the foreign emissaries and other electoral observers to act as impartial electoral observers – see and report.

Their grand conspiracy is being revealed by their attempts to direct the work of GECOM in violation of their observer status, the constitution and the ruling of the court that upheld the right of the regional officer to decide on the method to be used in the tabulation of the Region Four results.

The CJ Order number 89 states as follows: “It would be for the RO and or Deputy RO to decide whether in the interest of transparency the addition process should be re-started or continued from where it was left off.

It would also be for these functionaries to determine the best methods of tabulating the SOPs. Again, it cannot be for the persons present to dictate how this should be conducted, though one would expect that the RO would act reasonably in ensuring a process that allows persons to observe what is being tabulated and how. This is especially so given the varying methods of addition of the votes from the SOPs as disclosed in Ms. Myers’ affidavit.” Given this clear ruling, why are the representatives of foreign powers pressing GECOM to do otherwise?

While we African-Guyanese are open to a satisfactory conclusion of the electoral process, we are conscious of the lessons of history: and will not be willing participants in our own demise. Neither do we ask the same of others.

Regards,
ACDA

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-14-2020 

THE Guyana Elections Commission has stated that the Office of Region Four’s Returning Officer (RO) will be opened today from 09:30hrs to restart or continue the tabulation of the region’s Statements of Poll (SOPs).

The announcement came on Wednesday following the ruling of Chief Justice, Roxane George-Wiltshire, that the declaration of results for District Four for the General and Regional Elections were unlawful.

She had set a time limit of 11:00hrs today by which the process should either recommence from or restart. The RO for the region is Mr. Clairmont Mingo, who fell ill on March 4, 2020 at the High and Hadfield Streets Office during the SOP tabulation process.

Mingo was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) around 10:30hrs after reporters spotted him being transported with an oxygen mask into a waiting ambulance with the assistance of medical practitioners. It was shortly after the process recommenced at around 14:00hrs by a GECOM clerk, that an alarm was raised about discrepancies noted in the SOPs being tallied.

Reports are that a summarised spreadsheet was used by a GECOM clerk who took over from Mingo and the results on the sheet did not match that of the SOPs with the number of votes appearing higher than the number of voters. The Chief Justice had ruled yesterday that the use of the spreadsheet was lawful as the same was used in eight other regions. In today’s continuation or restart, she stated that GECOM has the right to choose which method of tabulation it wants to use. The region holds 879 polling stations and 285,618 electors. It could be the deciding factor for which party wins the elections. The previous count – now made null and void – had shown the coalition government as taking the lead over the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) by just over 7,000 votes. 

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_03_12_2020

Dear Editor
This statement was issued by the TIGI local observer team for the 2020 elections in Guyana.

FREE and fair elections are indispensable in a democracy. Such elections convey the people’s choice of leadership and in the absence of a credible process for determining the results, the legitimacy of any leadership installed is questionable. All reports to date and our own observations indicate that the 2020 elections were, overall, free and fair at the level of voting (though some incidents have occurred). This, however, has been derailed by tabulation of the results in Region Four, which has the largest population of the 10 regions with the potential to determine the outcome of the national elections. In this regard, we have taken note of and endorse the press statement by the Guyana Human Rights Association (see Stabroek News, March 7, 2020) on the process followed by the GECOM.

The GECOM has a duty and owes it to the people of Guyana to verify the results of the elections before announcing a winner. All this must precede the swearing in of a president.

Should a president be sworn-in prior to verification of the results, the legitimacy of that president and his/her regime will remain questionable and GECOM would have shredded its credibility and that of its officers. We also believe that no leader worthy of the presidency and of the responsibility to lead the development of our society would countenance such a cloud over his/her leadership. Even when systems fail, leadership cannot be allowed to fail.
The political parties and the local and international observers agree that an appropriate process for verification of the tabulated results was employed in all the regions except Region Four. In fact, the transparent process was initially followed in Region Four, then aborted. There is no reason why this should happen. Notwithstanding GECOM’s power to decide on its processes, a change in process would necessitate agreement of all involved to maintain integrity and there was no such agreement. Against this backdrop, the results declared for Region Four in the 2020 elections lack credibility.

The circumstances surrounding the declaration of the results for Region Four have created an appearance of collusion between GECOM and the incumbent, APNU+AFC, in so far as the results which were not transparently verified but declared for Region Four, tip the national election in favour of the incumbent. President Granger has indicated that he has not intervened in the functions of GECOM in relation to the results of the elections (Guyana Chronicle, March 10, 2020).

However, his statement has not cleared his party and its members of such interventions. Furthermore, whereas he indicated that GECOM should be allowed to “execute its mandate to deliver credible elections to the Guyanese people,” he did not indicate whether he believes that the results as declared are credible (see Guyana Chronicle, March 10, 2020). It is important to note that the credibility of elections is an assessment to be made by citizens and observers, including political parties, and is not evident upon GECOM being allowed to do its work. We therefore call on the APNU+AFC to indicate its position on the credibility of the process employed by GECOM in Region Four and to clear its image in the interest of its supporters and the country.

All Guyanese deserve and should demand nothing less than transparent verification of the results of the 2020 elections and all political parties, including those that might appear to have benefitted from the opacity, should support only a transparent process. This responsibility goes beyond what is perhaps merely legal or perceived to be so and to delivering elections of the highest standard for all Guyanese. The longer a credible and correct procedure is delayed, the greater the opportunity will be given to possible compromising of the ballot boxes at GECOM, that are no longer within sight of local and international observers.
TIGI will address elections in Guyana and the 2020 elections in greater detail at a later date.

Regards
TIGI observer team
Georgetown
Guyana

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_03_12_2020

OVER a week has passed since the March 2, 2020 Regional and General Elections were held. The “mother of all elections” has indeed lived up to the hype and has delivered some remarkable moments, many of which will remain etched in the minds of Guyanese the world over.

Since then, Guyana has witnessed many scenes which continue to leave Guyanese confused and bewildered. The current state of affairs in Guyana right now is analogous to that of a deeply dysfunctional family dynamic where the parents are not getting along, the siblings are out of control and the neighbours look on in shock, horror and derision.
In the hours and days following the close of polls, a campaign seems to have been carefully coordinated in order to attempt to cast reasonable doubt or indeed any sort of doubt upon the fairness and credibility of the Guyana elections process. Citizens were incensed and mobilised to take to the streets in protest of what was being peddled as rigged elections. It seemed as if all the hard work done to get Guyana ready to head to the polls was all for naught. The rest of the week produced scenes from the Guyana Elections Commissions (GECOM) headquarters which can only be described as reminiscent of a poorly directed horror movie.

In the midst of the chaos that followed once GECOM had been compromised by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) party operatives, officials and anyone else who was able to gain access, the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU + AFC), Campaign Manager and Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, issued a statement on behalf of APNU+AFC. Mr Harmon stated that “The behaviour and conduct of the PPP leaders and their enforcers is totally and wholly unacceptable, and is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and I do so unequivocally.” He continued that “I am appalled that PPP leaders would seek to intimidate and bully the GECOM staff that they would storm into offices at GECOM which they are not authorised to enter, that they would abuse staff, attempt to seize GECOM property and handle and seemingly tamper with GECOM records.”

Following the dissent of order at GECOM, local and international observers voiced their concerns over what had transpired. Rumours and theories spread rapidly on social media and the Guyanese public became enraged as many, on both sides, felt as though their democratic right had been circumvented.

Throughout the unrest however, President Granger has displayed excellent leadership in a poised, dignified and graceful manner. The President has been briefing diplomats and members of the international community who all have expressed concern over what transpired at GECOM and the credibility of the elections held on March 2. The President has remained steadfast in reinforcing that GECOM is a constitutional body and as such it is unlawful for the Executive to interfere with the work of the body.
In a statement issued on Monday, President Granger asserted that “I assure the nation that, at all times, I have acted in accordance with the Constitution and Laws of Guyana. After the elections on March 2nd, the nation awaited the declaration of the results by the Elections Commission after completing its work.” The President continued that, “GECOM is an independent constitutional agency over which I and the Executive have no control. I assure you, that as President, I cannot, did not and will not interfere in the work of GECOM.”

President Granger noted in particular that “It is my sworn duty, as President, to uphold the Constitution and keep our citizens safe. I intend to do so. I will not allow political malefactors to hijack our democracy and compromise public order and human safety. Law and order will be maintained. Guyanese, I appeal to you to remain calm and not to engage in any activity which can lead to the heightening of tensions in society. I urge you to go about your business in a peaceful manner. Some damage has already been done to social relations in our communities. We must repair that damage.”

Regardless of the outcome of the March 2, 2020 Regional and General Elections, President David Granger continues to lead Guyana forward with integrity and diplomacy as we await the official Elections declaration from GECOM. President Granger’s conduct has been lawful, mature and exemplifies qualities desirous of a leader. Let us follow his lead as we await the outcome of the “mother of all elections.”

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_03_12_2020