Western envoys congratulate Ali on presidency
-look forward to ‘meaningful progress on constitutional reform and reconciliation’
The envoys of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union yesterday congratulated Irfaan Ali on his swearing in as the President of Guyana and said they looked forward to “meaningful progress on constitutional reform and reconciliation”.
The Ambassador of the United States of America, Sarah-Ann Lynch, the British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn, the Canadian High Commissioner, Lilian Chatterjee, and the Ambassador of the European Union, Fernando Ponz-Canto, in a joint statement congratulated the people of Guyana and the Guyana Elections Commission for bringing the March 2nd elections to a peaceful and orderly conclusion. “We congratulate the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) on its electoral success and Mohamed Irfaan Ali on his swearing in as President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. We thank President David Granger for accepting the results as befits the dignity of his office. We thank all the political parties, technical advisors and all observers - international and domestic - who participated in the electoral process. We thank GECOM Chairwoman Claudette Singh for having the courage of her convictions to uphold Guyana’s Constitution.
“We look forward to working with President Ali and his government as it confronts many immediate challenges, including the need to address the social and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the development needs of Guyana’s people. We also look forward to seeing this government at its outset reach across political divisions to unite Guyanese of all ethnicities, races, and regions, around meaningful progress on constitutional reform and reconciliation.
“As friends of Guyana, we look forward to working with all to continue to support Guyana’s development for the benefit of all its people”, the statement said.
The quartet of envoys played a major role in ensuring that the Guyana
Government and GECOM were made aware of the repercussions of the thwarting of the will of the people. Frequent statements were issued by the four separately and together since the elections crisis brewed. They focused particularly on the acceptance of the result of the recount. They had also early on in the process identified irregularities in the District Four count. Those irregularities led to the recount.