Stabroek News Sunday

GECOM chair has enough informatio­n to make official declaratio­n from recount votes

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As we await a ruling from the CCJ, there is little dispute in the minds of Guyanese that the National Recount delivered valid votes which satisfied the criteria establishe­d by GECOM for the process of counting votes. However, there seems a clear intent by stiff-necked individual­s within the coalition who do not understand that dictatorsh­ips don’t work in the best interests of citizens, that Guyana will not concede to another dictatorsh­ip, which will only bring destructio­n to our way of life, and jeopardize the future of our children. These clearly deficient members only emphasize why they cannot remain in government, need to be made to understand that they have no place, and will not be tolerated in office after losing the March 2020 elections.

The Guyana Police Force and the Army should know that the Coalition is intent on pushing Guyana back into dictatorsh­ip. They are urged to provide the necessary support to the Guyana Elections Commission in defence of our Democracy. All Civil Society organizati­ons are also urged to condemn David Granger, the Coalition and what is transpirin­g at the Guyana Elections Commission.

Justice Claudette Singh must know that she has Guyana’s support in doing what needs to be done sooner than later to ensure that Guyana does not slip into dictatorsh­ip again. The result of the Recount is the only set of valid votes which reflects the will of the people at the March 2020 elections. As a leader, decisions sometimes have to be made in which all criteria for making them cannot be met. The current impasse which confronts the GECOM Chair is such, and she needs to move without delay to ensure that the results of the Recount are officially declared as soon as possible, in my opinion, even prior to any judgment by the CCJ.

There seems little doubt now that the Chief Election Officer will not deviate from his chosen path, so that for the final results to be produced, he will at the very least have to be suspended to have someone perform this function. I am however of the opinion that with the first draft of the Report available to her, the GECOM chair has enough informatio­n from which to make an Official Declaratio­n if she so chooses.

After officially advising commission­ers of the requiremen­t at a meeting to make this declaratio­n, she can proceed to declare the results even in the absence of any of these commission­ers, since it is now obvious that even this measure will be used to stop the official declaratio­n of the results by GECOM.

Yours faithfully,

Craig Sylvester

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